


A String of Inconveniences

by IamDaiBae



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Constance opens a nightclub, F/M, I'm a sucker for modern aus, Modern AU, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Will add more as time goes on - Freeform, Yuri owns a tea shop/cafe, rivals to lovers eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 57,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23809372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IamDaiBae/pseuds/IamDaiBae
Summary: Yuri Leclerc, the owner of a tea shop downtown thought he had things made in the shade, but only has things made difficult when an obnoxious blonde opens a nightclub directly across the street from his shop.Constance Nuvelle had fought to get her dream location for her new business and refuses to let anyone get in her way, especially not the charming man across the street who hates that she's there.
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Constance von Nuvelle
Comments: 114
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to @LadyofAdrestia on Twitter for their help when it came to planning and ideas, they're amazing 😭

On a day like this, business in Fódlan was ideal. The sun was out, shining warmly on the streets, the wind offered a comforting breeze, the birds were out, but not meddlesome. Midsummer was the perfect time to be a business owner, especially downtown Fódlan. With the rather large city separated into three main parts, there was south Fódlan where it was undoubtedly the largest and busiest part of the city, where all the tourist attractions were along with the markets, and the shopping district was unreal. 

Birdhouse Tea was a famous tea shop found on the central street of the Adrestia area, known for the owner being quite young. Yuri Leclerc, a twenty five year old gentleman who had taken over as the owner, manager, head cashier and barista at his business. The business had originally belonged to his mother, though after seeing the state his mother was in financially, he bought the business from her so it would stay in their name. Though his mother wanted to keep working, Yuri gave her enough money to repay any debts and promised to help support her as long as she did her best to live worry free. Though it wasn’t as if he was working solely on his own, a very large and tall man also frequented as a part time help for him. Yuri frequently dyed his hair a lavender purple and wore colored contacts, even being quite proficient with makeup to make a stand to those who would argue that men cannot wear makeup. Aside from aesthetics, his charm and natural looks were enough to capture the hearts of nearly any customer, which typically led to him having specific regulars that will stop by just to watch him work, even bringing him lunch some days if he was lucky.

“Thank you, please come again for your tea needs!” The purple haired owner said with a charming grin to a couple after they left the shop, noting the way the woman turned back for a second glance at him and he waved. With a heavy sigh, the man behind the counter stretched his arms, looking out the window. Days like these made him wish that he could do more to support his family, something more than the small tea shop to sustain his life, but working for something that took so much fighting and effort was enough to keep him and his mother afloat, even if being a small business was relatively troubling. Enbarr street was the largest strip where you could find anything and everything there, including Fódlan’s city hall. Many different businesses fought for his spot which was in high demand, considering it was near popular bus stops, the metro line, a bank, not to mention the amount of events that happened on this street alone made it the key point in everyone’s eyes.

As the radio played a catchy pop song from the top 40’s radio list, he spent his time boredly staring out the window, not even noticing his coworker and friend had entered, taking a rather loud and crude sip from his drink. The sound was enough to snap Yuri back to reality and almost jump out of his skin, responding with an eye roll. Composing himself, he turned to see Balthus standing right beside him, sipping out of a cup that he knew they didn’t sell at the store and he let out a sigh, shaking his head. Balthus looked quite proud of himself though.

As much trouble as Balthus caused Yuri, he was someone that was a necessity for the small business, especially since he knew he could trust the older man with anything. Ever since years and years ago where Yuri let Balthus stay with him after some guys were after him, Balthus swore to repay him for letting him live rent free, even after Yuri promised that there was nothing to repay him for since the older man had taken up all of the chores and laborious work. The two worked well together, even if they got on each other's nerves more often than not. 

“Balthus, you literally can have any drink for free here, enough of that overpriced crap, especially since the last thing I need is for people to get the idea to go elsewhere.” Yuri lectured, causing Balthus to laugh and shrug, moving the cup so it wouldn’t be in view if anyone was to walk out. While Balthus appeared as carefree and useless, he was essential to keeping Yuri’s business afloat, not to mention keeping the purple haired man sane when it came to slow days. Though it was hard to admit some days, Yuri really did appreciate the help. Besides, it didn’t hurt that two relatively attractive males working in one spot together attracted women and men alike that wanted to buy teas to attempt to impress them. Hey, if it helped pay his bills, Yuri wasn’t complaining and often used it to his advantage. 

“Yuri, no offense, but your decaf coffee won't help me adjust for the fact I slept two hours last night.” Balthus laughed heartily at his friend, even daring to take another sip in front of him, causing his boss to glare at him and cross his arms. The two of them went back and forth quite often, and while it could easily be seen as Balthus being the obnoxious and loud one that Yuri was bound to get tired of and fire, the two of them were solid in their professional relationship. A few more customers came in and Yuri made quick work of restocking some of the popular blends that he himself came up with. All of his teas were original blends, or classic blends with a Birdhouse twist that he and his mother would have created. Hell, there was even the Albrecht blend, one that is supposed to remind a man of campfire, gunpowder and barbecue. It wasn’t meant to be a good tea blend, but it made for a funny souvenir. It was part of the reason his store was popular, especially for hipsters and enthusiastic old women alike. 

Customers were always friendly with Yuri, especially since it wasn’t hard to see that this business was Yuri’s life, with the personal pictures hanging on the wall, the fact he was there every single day, and the fact that the upstairs was his apartment. He lived, breathed and slept for this business, and it earned him the respect he sought after. Even though Balthus was just part time, he dedicated a lot of his time to Yuri and the business, even when Yuri couldn’t promise to pay him for hours. Clearly the story about his mom hit a cord with Balthus, and the two of them were essentially business partners. 

The community knew the pair of them quite well, Balthus’ “little sis”, as he would call her, owned a small jewelry store beside them, where a cute blue haired girl would work as well. There were several boutiques, family restaurants, and anything you could think of. There used to be a bar, though it did get shut down due to the owner being a raging alcoholic and could no longer afford to keep the business afloat, which left the spot open for buyers. It was right across from the tea shop, and Yuri could only ask that it was going to be another dud, something that wouldn’t affect his business. As Yuri stared at the spot, a few more customers came in and once again he was forced to switch back to customer service mode while Balthus would carry boxes out to restock. 

~

On Enbarr street, a blonde woman dressed nicely, wearing a baby blue off the shoulder shirt, black jeans along with a pair of blue sandals to complement her shirt. Her bangs in long perfect curls while the rest was relatively straight. Covering her from the sun was a white lace parasol, not minding the odd looks she would get because of it. Her makeup was neutral, but mostly to accent her features, her lips baby pink with a shine from a surprisingly expensive lip gloss. Even her bright blue eyes were accented with a simple cat eye and neutral colored eye shadow. She would admire the spot for sale, accompanied by a redheaded woman who was dressed the complete opposite, wearing a black sport’s bra and sweatpants, wearing a pair of black high tops that looked as if they had seen better days. They looked like an odd pair, but the two of them seemed to talk so casually and friendly that one could only assume they were solid. 

Constance Nuvelle, a twenty three year old woman who was going to be the owner of House Nuvelle, the brand new nightclub if this price was right. The blonde woman was an entrepreneur who also knew how to take care of herself, leaving her previous position at a cosmetics company to make something for herself. Alongside her is Hapi, who had been her best friend since the beginning of high school. After Constance’s parents had passed away, her older brother went missing as well, Constance lost everything, including her old friends, any sort of social standing, not to mention she had resorted to being homeless. Everyone had turned her back on her, all excluding a red haired tanned girl who she used to bully. After therapy, rebuilding of trust, and many days spent together, the pair ended up inseparable. Now if Constance even so much senses someone looking in Hapi’s direction with malice, she will defend her, no matter what. It led to her in more fights than she could count, all because there were people who thought Hapi wasn’t good enough. But now Constance was in a position to have her own business, making a spot that she wanted, and what she wanted was a place people like her and Hapi would be welcome. 

This location was ideal since there had already been a bar installed, all they needed to do was make sure there was enough room for a dance floor and seating, which to their surprise during viewing, the place was huge. With a bit of added effort and costs, they would be able to make an elevated seating area for those who wanted to pay more, make sure the music would be enough to keep anyone lively along with a stage for live performances, and add some tweaks to the bar itself. Other than that, it was the perfect spot for them to set up. Having already spoken to the local government, she was good to get a thumbs up to renovate after she purchased the location. Just like that, Constance and her companion were ready to buy. 

And just like that, the next day there was a big sold sign on the front window, which immediately led the rest of the community to get nosy and investigate the new spot. It wasn’t hard to find though since both women were the ones leading the renovations along with the team they hired. The first pair to stop by were a pair of people who worked at the local bookshop on the other side of Birdhouse Tea. They were a silver haired, freckled young man with bright green eyes and quite an ambition for life, alongside a blonde woman who looked quite strong and friendly enough. Ashe and Ingrid, they introduced themselves as, welcoming the pair of girls to the community. Constance gladly chatted with them, Hapi more so tolerating the conversation as she tried to ignore the looks the silver hair boy was giving her. After a bit of chatting and more renovations, they ended up leaving. Soon enough, every fifteen minutes it would be someone else stopping by to say hello, and while Constance appreciated the welcome, she knew that work had to get done. 

Her solution? She decided to print invitations to House Nuvelle’s grand opening, the new nightclub going to open in less than a week's time if things were going as Constance planned. And boy did she plan for anything and everything that could be associated with this nightclub, food and drink costs, labor costs, pay schedules, even the ideal sort of candidates she was wanting to hire. Hapi was more so going to do the work that Constance wasn’t interested in, such as bartending. While Constance was more social and business oriented, Hapi was more so into doing things and having fun doing them. Though she didn’t look it, Hapi was incredibly strong and would be able to throw out anyone that got too inappropriate. Part of the reason they worked so well together. 

The grand opening was going to be huge as they planned it to be, free admittance along with drinks being super cheap and the music being super loud. It was going to be a grand entrance for their start in the busiest part of Fódlan, not to mention it was close to her childhood home. It held a lot of sentimental value to Constance, and the fact that there was a two bedroom apartment right above the nightclub. The building was pricey, but it was well worth it considering the fact that they’d be so close to work would be more than beneficial. Besides, the two of them were basically nocturnal, Hapi sleeping maybe three hours a night and Constance could sleep through anything and everything. 

~

It hadn’t taken long for Yuri to hear the news about the new business going to be opened in the next while, and his face paled at the thought of a nightclub. Surely this was going to absolutely kill his business, especially if they were loud and weren’t careful with the music. Of course Balthus was ecstatic hearing that a new bar was going to open, him being the alcoholic he was, but Yuri was more methodical and had to contemplate the pros and cons. The cons were obvious, they were going to be busy, loud and obnoxious while all the other small business were going to suffer for the first while, but at the same time, he could push and sell his hangover cure teas, which may be a plus, not to mention night time wasn’t busy anyways. And if he put in some panels to help with noise cancelling, maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible. 

Yuri looked through his store’s window as he watched several people from the community go over. It was almost enough to get under his skin, but from the speed that people were leaving as well, he could only assume that they were getting put up with it as well. Though they seemed to be looking at some sort of invitation for something, which naturally made him curious. Though it was Balthus’ day off, and he was the only one there. So instead he could only watch as renovations were worked on when he wasn’t serving customers. 

Later in the day, the sun began to set as evening came upon them. From where his store was set, the inside of his shop was always illuminated by the sunlight, leaving everything in a pretty golden hue. His keen eye for aesthetics thanked his mother for her placement of the store. The radio eventually changed to something more indie since at this point, his regulars wouldn’t be coming in. Before he realized it, there was a customer and before he could turn on his charm, he immediately recognized her. 

“Well, look what the cat dragged in. It’s been a while, friend.” Yuri greeted the customer and Hapi only grinned slightly with a small wave before wiping her forehead. She was sweaty, must have been busy with work inside the building. Yuri and Hapi went back many years, both of them were friends through junior high and if it wasn’t for Yuri moving, they would have been close friends. But instead, they met up every once and a while for a drink or just to hang out. Though now that Yuri thought about it, it had been a while since they’d hung out. She wore her hair different, it was no longer so wild to the point of not caring, it was actually styled, and was that makeup? He had half a mind to tease her about it. 

“Yo, Yuribird, still rocking the tea shop?” Hapi greeted casually, going up to the counter as she looked at his chalkboard menu behind him. “Anyways, could I get a cup of that really sweet vanilla tea I got last time? Maybe if I can convince my new roommate to get a kettle I’ll buy a whole whack of it.” Hapi said as Yuri nodded, moving over to the brewing station of the counter, making his friend the perfect cup of tea the way he knew she liked it. With too much sugar, enough to put an elephant in a sugar coma, and made it so she couldn’t taste the tea part of it in any way. Before she could pay, he waved her off, not expecting his old friend to pay for a simple cup of tea. Hapi only laughed and rolled her eyes with a shrug. “Can’t complain, thanks Yuribird.” She thanked him, and before he could even get a chance to dismiss her, she seemed to remember something then held out a small card to him. “Oh, check it. So my nightclub is opening up next week, you should come by. I’m sure I can repay the favor with drinks if you stop by. Maybe see if B wants to come?” Hapi suggested while Yuri looked it over. It instructed that the small card be used as the ticket to get in, so after grabbing another from her, he said he’d see what he could do. 

Then off she went to eventually get back to work he assumed, and he looked over the invitation. Curiosity was the only thing he really felt towards it, and he knew that he would have to go check it out. 

Later that night, Yuri finally closed up and headed up to his apartment, finally ready to unwind after a long day. A new nightclub on Enbarr? He was hating the dread that came with it, but perhaps it wasn’t going to be as troublesome as he thought, and it could even prove to be a useful and profitable arrangement. After taking off his makeup and removing the contacts, he got rid of his shirt and laid down in bed, he was prepared to let himself fall asleep. As soon as his eyes closed, music blared from across the street, and his eyes shot open. Oh hell no. The music was loud and constantly changed songs, Yuri only assumed they were testing things out for their opening night, however if it was going to be anything like this, Yuri was going to have some issues. 

~

Morning came slowly and painfully, Yuri got no sleep since they had done their testing all night. All night. But the store still had to open, he thought. After getting dressed and making sure he was presentable, he left his apartment and went back to the shop. He opened the front door and flipped the sign, and as he did so, his eyes just happened to look across the street where a curious blonde was looking back over to him. He glared and rolled his eyes, going back inside. ‘How troublesome.’ He thought to himself with a scowl. 

From across the street, Constance was curious about the tea shop, herself being rather interested in tea, but the look from the purple haired barista made her immediately disinterested. Who did he think he was to be so rude towards her? Surely they had been a bit loud with the music the night before, but that was only because the wiring for the building had only one volume setting which was apparently too loud, but surely if he was going to have a problem, he could talk to her about it. 

They both returned to their respective business’ both of them looking to the opening night. Yuri dreaded it, but he already told Hapi he’d try to make it, and Constance took the opening night as a gauge of whether or not it would be a success. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opening night finally comes around, and Yuri can't wait for it to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big, big, BIG shout out to @16_Beat_Rhythm on Twitter or softandhappy here on AO3 for beta reading this chapter for me. Seriously, they're a life saver and I cannot thank them for their time enough

The week leading up to the opening of Fódlan’s new nightclub was nothing short of Hell for a certain tea shop owner, and it wasn’t as if his new neighbor was doing anything wrong. It was the amount of times he had to hear about it, the invitations to go, even the subtle gossiping he would hear when we would walk down the street. It really did irk him, considering how inconsiderate that woman across the street seemed to be, though he didn’t have it in him to critique Hapi. Knowing the redhead, she wouldn’t care for the business part of it. The loud music, the constant renovations, and the fact she never seemed to leave. Now usually Yuri wasn’t one to complain, but how was he going to tell his mom that a nightclub opened up and brought down business? The thought itself stressed him out enough.

Speaking of which, he knew he should give her a call. She was probably wondering how he was, wondering about the shop as well, and he would bet money on it that she would make a comment about Balthus at some point. Though he dedicated a lot of time and effort to making sure his mother was living comfortably, he didn’t go and see her too often, but wished that he had the time to. 

As he walked down Enbarr street, he couldn’t resist stopping by his favorite bakery, owned by one of the sweetest, pun not intended, women he’d met. She was one of the first to ignore his act, and he respected that about her. Though they didn’t talk often, she had a friend that he had known since taking over the shop, which usually gave him some sweet, pun intended, discounts. 

“Mercedes, special delivery.” Yuri called out when he walked in, noting the looks he’d gotten by several people who looked at him as if he was their favorite character brought to life, the direct look he was going for if he may add. Now Yuri didn’t mind the attention, as it only helped increase sales and got his name spread around. Using his best act, he’d even looked over to a few of them and waved as he went and leaned on the counter where his favorite blonde bakery lady came out, giggling softly when she saw him. Mercedes was the sort of woman who any person could love, she was the kindest soul to anyone and made an effort to make a home away from home for everyone. Yuri deep down admired the place since for the brief point he was homeless, Mercedes would bring him freshly made sweets whenever she saw him. Though they didn’t talk often, Yuri respected her and the work she did. What was one free tin of her favorite tea every once in a while? 

“Good morning to you too, Yuri. Is your shop open today?” She asked, coming out from behind the back room, adjusting her apron. Her hands and even the apron itself was coated in flour, and he almost felt bad interrupting if she was making some things. But from around the corner, her redheaded best friend poked out to see the commotion, giving a wave to Yuri before disappearing once again to the back. When Yuri nodded and presented the tin of a mixed berry and vanilla blend of tea, her smile only widened. “You really are too sweet, dear. How much do I owe you for this one?” She asked as she gladly took the tin, getting out her change purse from the pocket of her apron.

“I have Balthus doing an opening shift so I can run only the most important errands. And for you? Maybe a couple pastries and I’ll call it even.” His charm earned a laugh from the woman in front of him and she knelt down behind the counter to show him a small bag of pastries with his name written in a lovely cursive. “It’s like you can read my mind.” He joked as he gladly took the bag from her, and without meaning to, his eyes noticed a familiar card pinned to the cork board behind her and he let out a sigh. Curious, her eyes followed his gaze, and her expression brightened seeing that it was the invitation card for the new nightclub. “Come on friend; don’t tell me that you intend on going?”

Mercedes only laughed and moved so that she could start stocking the display case with fresh pastries and such, raising an eyebrow at him. “Of course, it’s being opened by an old friend of mine and I’m going to support her with a group of friends.” Mercedes said with a hum, hearing Annette squeal from the back room at the mention of a new hangout spot. Yuri audibly groaned, rolling his eyes. Surely he wasn’t the only person not looking forward to having this new location open up, and yet it felt like it. Noticing his frustration, it only made her laugh a bit more, shaking her head. Normally Mercedes would offer to invite him, but Yuri noticed that she saw his annoyance and was thankful she didn’t mention it. Besides, they weren’t good enough friends for him to have accepted anyways. Pushing the topic aside, he waved it off and grabbed his bag. 

“That aside, I probably shouldn’t leave Balthus for too long before he burns the place down. I’ll see you later, friend.” Yuri waved before he left, eating one of his pastries on his way back to the shop. Most people he expected to hear that they were going, but a nightclub didn’t seem like Mercedes’ type of hang out. Already tired of even thinking about it, he began to think about the rest of the day, and he supposed that he would need to plan something to wear for the opening.

~

Entering back into the shop, he was greeted by Balthus who was drinking something out of one of their cups, which surprised Yuri since Balthus didn’t really care for their tea. But the smell got to his nose and he made a face, knowing it was the Albrecht blend. His expression was a look of disgust and horror as he watched Balthus take yet another sip then laugh about it?! “Yuri! This actually isn’t as bad as you say it is. I think I’m gonna have to start drinking this more often. Has a real,” he stopped to think about a way to word it, “manly taste to it.” He wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or joking with him, but Yuri could only shake his head before going back behind the counter. 

Just looking at Balthus reminded him that he needed to confirm the order of custom t-shirts for the company. Their uniform was a black t-shirt and jeans, but he wanted to eventually get something that would have the name of the store on it, maybe even make some merchandise for tourists. Enbarr was a large tourist trap after all, and that was where he found most of his revenue outside of his regulars. Though not many places had the budget to make merchandise, though Yuri figured he could dip into his personal savings to at least get a few shirts started. 

“That smells awful.” Yuri said, his face still in a scowl as he looked at the cup with a glare before he got out a book from under the counter, writing down some things before he let out another dramatic sigh. “That horrendous drink aside, I’m going to close early tonight since that place across the street is opening and business here would be nonexistent after seven.” It was always annoying when they closed early, he found it inconvenient, but it made sense for the opening night of a new attraction and it gave him time to get a nap in before getting ready for the night. Because he lived just upstairs, hours normally would be able to run a lot later than normally expected for a tea shop. The mention of the new nightclub made the larger man excited, a stupidly wide grin on his face when he fished out his own card from the pocket of his jeans. Must have encountered Hapi or the blonde at some point to get his own card, which threw away Yuri’s plan of giving away his.

“You’re looking really glum pal, what’s got you down?” Balthus raised a bushy eyebrow as he noted Yuri’s distaste, wondering why Yuri wasn’t looking forward to going out like he was. Yuri and Balthus regularly went out together, and while most of the time it was to be his backup when he worked at night, the two were no strangers to having a couple of drinks and a night out. Usually Yuri was looking forward to something like this, so why was he so against this? 

“I’m just not looking forward to how this could impact business. If my numbers go down because of this, then I’m not going to be very happy about it.” If Yuri were a selfish man, surely he would enlist the help of a certain notorious criminal and sabotage the opening, but he vowed to not take up the name unless someone genuinely needed his help, not to ruin a business that was most likely going to close down in three months. It would be a waste of his resources and time. The man was devious and liked to be in control, but he wasn’t sloppy enough to let petty grievances get in the way.

The rest of the night had gone pretty unceremoniously, but he noticed that as soon as evening hit, a line up of people was already starting to form at the door. Hapi always was good with social media, so she must have been in charge of advertising. Though she didn’t seem like it, she had an almost cult-like following on popular social media apps, her uncaring attitude attracted people and her neutrality towards negative critiques and comments only made her more fascinating to some people. Back before they had stopped keeping contact, he’d even convinced her to post videos of him doing her makeup, knowing fully that she hated it. Simpler times, no doubt. Aside from his friend’s online presence, he was brought back to the real world when Balthus announced he was taking off to drop his stuff off at home and that he’d stop by again around ten. 

By the time night came around, Yuri found himself in his apartment looking through his wardrobe. Trying to decide on what to wear, he went with a black button down with black jeans would be enough to keep him under the radar before he would never have to step foot in there again. He promised Hapi he would go, but never specified for how long, intending on going for a half hour before he would try to find a way to block out sound from the outside. After getting himself dressed, he peeked out his window and saw that they were already letting people in, the lights and music playing. Fortunately for them, the music didn’t seem to seep outside as much as it had the week before, leaving Yuri a bit of faith that maybe he wouldn’t hope for his friend’s complete failure. 

Making sure to lock his apartment door as he left, he headed downstairs to find Balthus sitting at one of the tables, scrolling through his phone. He hadn’t even bothered changing into something outside of his “uniform” since he planned on getting drunk. When the older man drank, he had a tendency to lose his shirt along with all inhibitions, so perhaps a simple outfit was going to be the best course of action. He was fun to go out with when he wasn’t destructive, but Yuri felt that he didn’t have a lot of patience for this sort of thing, at least not tonight. After tonight, people would finally get the idea that a nightclub on Enbarr wasn’t going to be the best idea and then they’ll know he was right about it. 

~

It was opening night and Constance was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. A full week of renovations, work, buying supplies, making sure everything was fully stocked, making sure the music was perfect, making sure her staff was trained enough to handle sure a large night, and the blonde was pacing on the dance floor, muttering to herself as Hapi leaned against the bar, checking her phone as she chewed on a piece of bubblegum. Blowing a bubble and popping it to get her best friend’s attention, which it did, she lazily looked up to her. “Woah Coco, cool it. It’ll be a fun night, don't worry so much ‘bout it.” Her words were relaxed and nonchalant, but it worked wonders for the co-owner. She let out a breath that she had been holding, then Constance took a moment to look around. 

The interior was definitely unique, neon signs, black lights, and while the walls were mostly black, it was oddly well lit inside due to the blue and purple lights. The bar was quite large with white neon lights underneath to leave a cool glowing effect. It was also large enough to fit many groups, and more than enough seating on the side with their leather couches on one side, and their bar stools and tables on the other. The neon signs on the wall added to the aesthetic, as well as the under lit stools, it was perfect. The neon signs were Hapi’s idea, some of them crude and vulgar, but it was Hapi’s only condition. It was their pride and joy, using the blue and purple lights to set the perfect kind of relaxed, but still exciting atmosphere. Though Hapi wanted red and purple, Constance thought red gave off the feeling of danger. Perhaps another night they would figure it out, but aside from their minor disagreements, they both seemed very satisfied. The place was huge and required a lot of help from others, but with their staff, the amount of security they hired, the both of them knew that things were going to go smoothly. 

“I know, but we’re so close to making this happen, I cannot help but be nervous!” The blonde exclaimed, looking at the clock by the bar. Eight fifty-five hit and she moved to the front door where she could see the line up go down the block, seeing that security was doing a fine job of keeping the lineup calm while they were making final preparations. The music was loud inside, but they made an effort to install some noise cancelling panels to ensure that not too much noise would reach the outside, not wanting to deal with an inevitable noise complaint. Hapi went behind the bar to accompany the other three bartenders, adjusting the collar on her deep green turtleneck shirt, also smoothing out her black skirt as well making sure that she didn’t look like a complete animal before they opened the doors. Constance was gently pulling on the hem of her short sleeved blue dress, one that perfectly matched her ocean blue eyes, wishing that it had gone down a bit further past her knees, but ultimately decided that it wasn’t the time to be stressed about her outfit, figuring she was doomed to be lost in the crowd anyways. She fidgeted with the belt around her waist, deciding it was time to stop pacing around and get her things together. 

As soon as nine hit, Constance knocked on the door as a hint for the bouncers to start checking invitations and she moved to stand behind the bar, beside her coworker. Suddenly groups of people began pouring in and Constance made sure to smile and greet everyone she could while Hapi would wave and grin slightly before getting to work, leaving the louder female to do whatever she wanted. The music set the atmosphere, it was mostly composed of songs from the top forty list for the radio, songs from the nineties, classics and occasionally even some alternate pop to feed Hapi’s addiction. Though she mainly had creative control, she was more than glad to let Hapi be in charge of the music. 

At some point half an hour into opening, Constance even went outside to see if there was anyone she knew, personally bringing Mercedes and her group of friends inside to skip the line, smiling and laughing as she welcomed them. The line was still just as long, even though the venue was filling up with people. So far, everything was going extremely well, people dancing along to the music and even Hapi looked calm and relaxed pouring drinks for some people. She made a point to go talk to Mercedes again once things had settled in, but the feeling of pride as she saw smiling faces filled her. Granted it was the first night they would be open so it was bound to be busy, but something told her this was a good idea. Doing a small lap around to make sure there was nothing needing immediate assistance, she spotted Mercedes and her group of friends sitting at one of the tables on their couches. confidently , she made her way over after Mercedes waved her down and took a seat beside the other blonde, smiling widely as she did so.

“Connie! You really had done it, this place looks absolutely amazing.” he praised as Constance scoffed, grinning as she waved the compliment off. It was nice to hear that from someone she considered to be an older sister figure, and she looked to see the group that she was with. Most of them looked as if they were enjoying themselves, though one of them looked a bit awkward, a blonde man with an eye patch, his hair tied up in the back. The other looked only slightly miserable, sipping on a bottle of beer while his friends attempted to get him to cheer up. It was so lively that Constance couldn’t help but laugh.

“Of course this place was nothing short of perfection. It was Hapi and I that planned everything after all.” Even though when working, Constance preferred to be called by the nickname Hapi gave her, when it came to Mercedes she couldn’t complain. She was definitely not one to be humble when it came to compliments, not when she had worked so hard to achieve them, and her honesty only made Mercedes grin. Finding one of the servers, Constance announced that the next round of drinks for her friend’s table was going to be on her and with that, she took off to find other’s to go talk to. 

While Constance was out socializing and enjoying her time, a certain purple haired man walked into the building with Balthus, both of them looking around. It was an interesting choice of design, and while he wanted to find an excuse to complain, he had to admit it was a nice concept. The neon and the lights were a good choice for the location. Before he could even take a second to say something to Balthus, he was gone, leaving Yuri standing alone for a moment. That usually happened though, Balthus was never one to stand still in a bar, always finding a way to know and talk to someone, and Yuri was usually able to find someone to talk to or chat up. Speaking of which, he spotted a certain redhead behind the bar and made his way to take a seat right in front of her, ordering just a bottle of water for the time being. Hapi immediately noticed him and she grinned slightly as she slid him the water. Though the music was loud, she managed to talk to him.

“Glad to see you’re here, Yuribird.” She slightly shouted to him, leaning on the bar to talk to him while the other bartenders took over orders. “What d’you think of the place? Cool right?” 

“I suppose it’s a neat concept, but I didn't take you for the decorating type.” He teased, brushing his bangs out of his eyes as he opened the bottle of water. Though Hapi didn’t look too bothered by his teasing, considering she was never the type to seek validation from anyone, especially not him. 

“No duh, most of this wasn’t me. Coco has a real knack for this kind of stuff.” She said with a simple shrug, but the nickname had him raise an eyebrow. Coco? “Y’know, Coco, best friend?” Her words made it sound like it was obvious, but she only shook his head with a shrug, honestly not sure who she was talking about. The response earned an identical shrug from the woman as well. “Whatever. She’s around somewhere, hard to miss her. Blonde, blue eyes, blue dress. Loud-” 

As if on cue, the music cut short as a woman demanded attention from across the bar, Constance pulling a man off his stool forcefully and onto the ground, pinning him to the ground with a drink in her hand. She expressed a sense of fury that was rare for people to show outside of their own mind. The man was yelling obscenities at Constance, in her hand she held a small bag of substance, screaming at him as she kept him pinned. His arm is in an uncomfortable position behind his back, threatening to pop out of its socket. Everyone seemed to stop for a moment as security came to her and picked the guy off of the ground, Constance taking a step away to let them do their thing. But as she got off, the man stood up and punched her square in the cheek, causing her to stumble back before getting security to pick the man up as if it was nothing, leaving Constance to hold her cheek where there was undoubtedly going to be a bruise, her lip split and bleeding as she moved to get a napkin to cover it.

Constance wiping the blood off her busted lip before she signaled someone to turn back on the music and things returned back to normal, the blonde disappearing to where he could only assume was the bathroom. People were obviously concerned about what had just happened, but Yuri only looked in curiosity. That must have been the mentioned “Coco” he assumed. A strong impression that was left on him, definitely. Looking back to Hapi, her mouth was in a straight line before she excused herself, going off to the washroom after her friend. 

~

For the rest of the night after Hapi left to check on their friend, everything carried on without incident. Yuri kept an eye on the bar out of habit, wanting to ensure that nothing would happen, which led to him staying far longer than he originally planned. Constance and Hapi went around to the groups of people, thanking them for stopping by while Yuri stayed stationary. Surely they should have known that this place was going to be an open invitation to all sorts of scum of the world, and that woman took down that man without a fear of an assault charge or anything. He wondered just who had that kind of gall, and why he was almost impressed with it. Once the crowds started dying down, that was when Yuri took his leave, no longer seeing his friend, wondering if he left for home. He’d know by the morning, and Yuri made sure to remind himself to send a text when he was at home to make sure Balthus knew Yuri was looking out for him. 

Deciding that it was a good time to slip away, he asked one of the bartenders for a napkin and a pen, which they happily gave him. He took out a fifty dollar bill and wrapped the napkin around it, writing a small note for Hapi. He got up and realized just how long he had been sitting, his legs almost asleep as he felt the familiar tingle, so he stretched his legs for a second before he saw the woman he was looking for right by the exit. He walked over and her expression went from one of indifference to curiosity when he approached her. Yuri only grinned and held out the napkin. 

“Congrats on getting your place, eventful night.” He told her with a grin and while Hapi was hesitant, she took it and pocketed it, catching a part of the note that said “do not open”. With an eye roll and a slight grin, she pat his shoulder. 

“Thanks for coming. See you later.” She said with a wave as he headed out and crossed the street, looking forward to just sleeping for the night. He didn’t drink for the entire time he was there, which wasn’t too rare for him, but the atmosphere and seeing everyone enjoy themselves was interesting. Now if he could assure that it wasn’t going to affect him directly, maybe he would be fine with it. Only maybe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So honestly, I have a rough idea on where this story is going but I think the rating I'm going to keep with for right now is going to be Teen + because I don't intend on Adult themes, but there will be some parts of the story that will include violence and mature themes, if that makes sense. I'm wishy washy so it may fluxuate, but I will figure it out lmao. Bit thank you to anyone reading this and keeping up with it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Constance recalls the previous night, only to meet a new friend and a few people she cannot stand to be around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, a huge shoutout to @16_Beat_Rhythm on Twitter or softandhappy here on AO3 for beta reading this fic for me. They're a huge support and I'm so lucky to have an amazing beta reader

In that following morning, Constance couldn’t have guessed that her cheek would be so purple and blue, or did she expect her lip to be so puffy and swollen either. Her scream into the mirror woke up Hapi, who had rushed to the bathroom in her pajamas holding a metal bat, looking for any sign of an intruder, but instead just found a very sore looking Constance who was pouting at her reflection. Her roommate was not very impressed with the lack of creep in their apartment and only gave her friend a look that she was waiting for Constance to explain why she woke her up and caused her to panic. Constance frowned at Hapi, then went back to looking into the mirror, lightly touching the mark. 

“What do you mean? Do you not see my face? I cannot leave this apartment looking like this, I look absolutely dreadful.” The blonde was starting to spiral as she inspected her own reflection. It was a Saturday and she intended on going out to their nightclub to build a clientele, but there was absolutely no chance of doing so when she looked like a monster. Her reaction earned an eye roll from Hapi, who dropped the bat on the ground and leaned against the door frame.

“Are you kidding? The dude you beat was gonna spike a drink. The media’s already talking.” Hapi said, grabbing her phone from her pajama pant’s pockets and started scrolling through her social media, attempting to find a specific post. Due to Hapi being the more behind the scene’s kind of person, she’s taken the role of advertising and media management for herself. After a moment, she showed the screen to the other, it was a video of the entire thing happening. Someone must have filmed it, and the thought made Constance groan audibly. Great, not only did she look like a freak, her alleged “assault” was on camera. Luckily if anything was to move forward with a lawsuit, she could easily pull the camera tapes of the guy attempting to put something in a drink that clearly hadn’t belonged to him. While she was going deeper and deeper into thought, suddenly Hapi flicked her forehead, suddenly a lot closer than she thought with an annoyed expression. “Earth to Coco? You weren’t listening, were you?”

That earned an apologetic smile from her friend, and she waved it off dismissively. They went back and forth about the situation, but ultimately Hapi managed to convince her that it was a good thing she did, and a good way to do it. Now people knew that if they tried anything, they were not afraid to stand up, and that was the most important thing to the two of them. When they first decided to open this, it was agreed upon that it was going to be a place where anyone could be welcome, but the moment someone slipped; there would be no hesitation to kick them out. 

After their chat, Hapi left Constance to try and do her makeup to cover the marks, though there wasn’t much that could be done for her lip except wash it and keep pressure on it. Due to her background working for a makeup company before she quit to pursue this opportunity, she was able to cover the bruise decently well. Her one downfall would be for anyone to stare hard enough, they would most likely notice the discoloration. 

~

Even though she had her tantrum in the morning, Constance found herself looking out the window of their living room. Holding a small glass of water, she took sips as she attempted to ignore the stinging pain. When she closed her eyes, she was still able to remember the fight that happened, easily recalling every event.

_ The music was top volume, and everyone Constance talked to seemed to be having a great night. It was exactly what she- what they wanted, and she couldn’t stop smiling. Going to the bar to get herself some water, she couldn’t help but overhear one woman say to their friends that she was going to get a drink. She was beautiful, brown hair and green eyes that could pierce through steel if she tried hard enough. Immediately Constance recognized her as someone famous, and it only made her more and more certain that this was a success. As soon as she left though, time stopped for a moment when there was a man that sat beside her, but wasn’t part of her group, took out a small bag of colorful pills and discreetly slid the drink towards him without any of her group noticing.  _

_ There was nothing Constance could do that would end well. If she approached him quietly, would he have been more aggressive? Doing nothing was out of the question as well, she refused to do nothing and let this woman be put in danger. With a signal set up beforehand with her DJ, the music cut and with every step towards him fuelled Constance with anger. A lowlife like this man was not about to ruin her night or her chances of this working out. He would not get to ruin a stranger’s life in one night. This was bigger than her, bigger than Constance’s selfish want to succeed, so without thinking, she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him off the stool with every ounce of strength she had. It rendered her thankful for the years of self defence classes she treated herself to, watching his back hit the ground with a loud “thud”. The small bag was dropped and Constance quickly got on top of him, sitting on his back as she pinned one of his arms uncomfortably high on his back with one of her arms, her other hand grabbing the bag to get it away from him.  _

_ Aware of her surroundings all of a sudden, she could see the looks from the group, and more noticeably the woman who left, the look of shock on her face as she left the bathroom. Suddenly a wave of worry and almost embarrassment flew over her, only to be replaced with anger when the man below her had the audacity to start cursing at her, calling her words that no woman should ever have to be called.  _

_ So what did she do? Constance started yelling back of course, yelling that this man intended to drug this woman’s drink, showing the bag as her proof. She had to explain herself so people wouldn’t get the wrong idea about her or what she was doing. Her public image suddenly became very important to her. Once security made their ways through the crowd, they helped get her off while she was still threatening to hurt him even more. Before security could even grab him, he jumped back to his feet and punched her harder than she’s ever been hit. She recoiled back with a yelp, suddenly aware of the sensation of something on her face and she hurriedly moved to wipe it off, seeing that it was blood. The red made her immediately nauseous and all she could do is glare at the man, holding herself back from going at him again. _

_ Her entire body was trembling, her one hand holding her cheek, her nails on her other hand were digging into her palm as she watched him be carried off. The looks on her were getting overwhelming, causing her flight instincts to take over. Silently she went back to the bar, leaving the bag of pills for them to put under the bar so they could report it to the police later and she was given a napkin to catch the blood. Then off she went to the bathroom, giving the signal to start the music up again. What happened afterwards was a blur though, all she remembered was Hapi stopping by to see if she was okay, even comforting her as she cried, the adrenaline wearing off finally.  _

_ ~ _

The memory of the night before had her hands shaking once again, the familiar anger resurfacing. As lost in her thoughts as she was, suddenly she was brought back to reality when the realisation that she had just been staring at the tea shop across the street hit. She immediately averted her gaze as she looked towards her phone that sat on the coffee table, seeing the notification light flash a few times. Suddenly Constance heard Hapi’s bedroom door close and she saw the redhead walk out, wearing a low effort outfit that Hapi managed to look like it was planned. Constance admired that about Hapi, how she could make anything look amazing.

“Yo, I’m going out for a bit. Have to meet with some buddies.” Hapi said as she popped another piece of bubblegum into her mouth, taking her keys off the counter and left the blonde to herself. 

“Be safe! Text me on your way home!” Constance called out to her before she finally checked her phone, seeing the countless amount of notifications from her social media, no doubt a combination from the video that was posted, and the grand opening of F ó dlan’s hottest nightclub. Through all of the social media notifications, she noticed a text from an unknown number, and though she was hesitant to open it in case it was someone like the man, she decided to take a peek. 

_ “Hey, is this the woman from the nightclub? The one who took care of that guy in the video?” _

_ “That depends who is asking. Who is this?” _

The reply took a moment longer than Constance would have liked, but she couldn’t look away from her screen until she eventually saw a new message pop up. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath while waiting for the response, but once she got it, she let out the air.

_ “I’m the woman from last night. I had to go through a few people to get this number, I hope you don’t mind. Can we meet at Mercedes’ bakery? I want to talk with you about what happened.”  _

Normally Constance would be hesitant, and unnerved about someone asking her to meet, but they at least knew of Mercedes, and it was a public place. Besides, if it wasn’t the person they were claiming to be, she’d just leave. 

_ “I’ll be there in ten minutes, if you’d like to meet up.” _

~

It had taken her a bit of courage as she walked out of her building, adjusting a pair of sunglasses that did well to hide her eyes from any wandering people that might have recognized her. Her outfit was lackluster; A simple blue sweater with a white collared shirt underneath, a black skirt that went past her knees and a pair of white converse. If this turned out to be a bad situation, at least Constance can say she didn’t put too much effort into something like this. Naturally she would notice the way some people looked at her, mainly because of her busted lip, but if that was all, then she didn’t care too much. 

Entering into the bakery, Constance noticed the woman behind the counter who was a friend of Mercedes’ someone she greeted the night before. She took off her sunglasses and waved to the small redhead, looking around for someone in particular. Suddenly she noticed the woman from the night before, her hair tucked into a black hat, wearing her own pair of sunglasses. Naturally that made sense, she was a famous music artist who was most likely not very interested in getting recognized. 

The blonde took a deep breath before she walked over, nervously fidgeting her hands as she waved the brunette, seeing the look of relief wash over her face seeing her. 

“You’re Constance, right?” Immediately she started, motioning her to take a seat at her table, taking off her own pair of sunglasses with a smile. Her eyes really were just as green as she remembered, it was almost intimidating. “I’m sorry for the secrecy over text, I wasn’t even sure if it was the right number, I had to go through a few different people to get your number.” She rambled, which made Constance laugh as she waved her off, shaking her head. 

“You have no reason to apologize, I was hesitant to respond if I am being perfectly honest, but it is a relief to see that you are alright.” Constance grinned to the other girl who took a sip of her drink. Suddenly the other woman got quiet, like she was trying to think of what to say and Constance got anxious herself, not sure how to carry on the conversation herself. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more-”

“Thank you for everything you did-”

They spoke at the same time which caused the two of them to laugh, the tension easily slipping away afterwards. They both went to speak again at the same time, before Constance motioned her to go first, since she felt bad apologizing for the situation. 

“Thank you for what you did last night. I was an idiot for leaving an unattended drink and I probably wouldn’t have even noticed there was something different with it.” She started, smiling sadly as she began to think about the situation before suddenly she gasped, causing the other woman to jump slightly. “How rude of me! I’m Dorothea, it is a pleasure to meet you. I saw that there was a new nightclub that opened up so naturally I had to go with all my friends. You really did well with the place.” 

It was odd to hear such praises from someone she respected so greatly, it was almost embarrassing, causing Constance to wave her off with a small shake of her head, as if trying to tell her that she didn’t need to sing her praises so greatly. “That is a great relief to hear, I was concerned about how well it was going to go, but it seemed as if for the most part that it was a lot of fun for a lot of people. I must thank you for even coming.” Constance started before she was the one to be waved off. 

“You’re the one who took a punch for protecting me, I should be the one thanking you.” Dorothea insisted, rummaging through her designer purse as she tried to look for something. “Please let me buy you something in return, and because you stood up for me, I’d like to buy your VIP area for every weekend you have available for me and my friends.” 

The offer made Constance’s eyes open, due to it being a place with a lot more perks than the rest of the bar, it would be a bit costly. Added security, specific waiters, a rather large sitting area, even a small secluded dance floor if they wanted privacy, it was a wonderful night out for a whole group to pitch in, and here she was willing to pay for every weekend. It was almost too much, but before Constance could attempt to talk her out of it, Dorothea shook her head, cutting off her thoughts.

“You really put yourself on the line to make sure someone was safe last night. Not many people would stand up the way you did, and I can tell that place is important. I’m going to at least try and pay you back.” The way she said it made it hard for her to turn it down, and she had a twenty dollar bill in her hands before she knew it. “That’s for a drink and something to eat, as a thanks. I have to get going, but I’ll be back at your nightclub tonight.” She got up and before putting on her sunglasses, she looked back to her. 

“Thank you again.” 

The meeting left Constance speechless, not sure how to properly assess the conversation, but she knew that it was going to be an amazing opportunity for her and she couldn’t wait to tell Hapi the good news. Eagerly, Constance went up to the counter and ordered herself a couple of pastries so that she could celebrate with Hapi about the news, but when it came to paying, The woman behind the counter only smiled and shook her head. 

“Nothing needed, Mercie made sure to let me know that she’s willing to cover anything from you if you came in today. As a thanks for the drinks last night.” She was eager to exclaim, which earned a laugh from Constance and an eye roll, knowing Mercedes was absolutely the type to do so. So instead, she put the twenty into the tip jar, smiling and thanking the shorter woman behind the counter before she left to start heading back to her apartment. But there was a certain shop that she meant to stop by.

~

Yuri stood behind his counter with an annoyed expression on his face while Balthus was sitting at one of the few tables, playing around on his phone. He was right to begin with, because the new nightclub opened up, his business for the day after was garbage, no one stopping by except a few of the elderly women who were there just for conversation along with a tin or two of tea. Until he could talk to his mom and get her help to create a hangover cure blend of tea, he was screwed. 

Balthus looked rough, probably due to drinking too much the night before and even though Yuri told him not to bother coming in, he still decided to sit around and keep his friend company on the dead day.

It was frustrating being proven right sometimes, especially when it affected his generally steady flow of customers. And he knew it wasn’t their fault directly, he couldn’t blame his friend for opening the nightclub, but it was still a pain knowing that his revenue was going to fluctuate. It took Balthus’ laughter to get him to pay attention to his surroundings, seeing that he was watching something on his video, and quietly Yuri could hear familiar yelling. It was a video from the night before, where the one woman took down the guy and there was a lot yelling, outing the guy as a creep who had the intention of drugging a woman’s drink. It was despicable, but the way she handled it could have been better. But who was he to critique?

“Dude, anger aside, she’s kinda hot though, right?” Balthus called to Yuri, not bothering looking over as he replayed the video once again, and the only response Yuri could give was an eyeroll at his friend’s comment. It was Balthus, so he knew not to get into it with him and instead noticed that a customer stood in the doorway, and immediately he recognized her. 

“Welcome to Birdhouse Tea, Miss.” His voice was a mixture of teasing and damage control as the blonde woman’s face got more and more red as she had just overheard the comment made by Balthus. Her eyes looked over to him as he stumbled to close the video with a loud, hearty laugh at the situation, apologizing as he saw her scary expression. His words caused the blonde to glare at them both, and while she had a half of a mind to leave and not return, she knew that she was going to have to at least try and play along with them if she was going to keep her momentum going with her business. 

“Ah, so this is the… Quaint little shop that Hapi has told me about.” Her voice was slightly condescending as she looked around the shelves, noting the different assortments of tea. Her tone made Yuri’s eye twitch as he grinned at her, looking at her as she went around looking for something. She grabbed a tin of an earl grey tea blend, the packaging was admittedly a bit charming, but instead of commenting, she only scowled at the two men. Going to the counter, she saw the person who Hapi told her about, her old friend that was “pretty chill” which was usually high praise from Hapi. 

“Oh come on, don’t be like that. I’m sorry for his behavior. He means no harm.” Yuri said, leaning against the counter, his stance a polar opposite from hers. While she was frigid and stiff as she waited for him to ring her through, he was more relaxed and calm. He took the tin and put it into a small paper bag, the total for her tea popped up on the register and without a word she paid for it. Then she left with a huff and Yuri laughed as he wished her a good day, sighing as he shook his head.

“That probably could have gone better.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this feels like it's progressing extremely slowly, but after next chapter, things should start picking up. I've never been the best at planning, so I apologize for that, but thank you for sticking with me. This fic is the only thing keeping me sane through these times.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The arguing begins, and finally they've had enough with the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A really big thank you @16_Beat_Rhythm on Twitter or softandhappy here on AO3 for beta reading this fic for me. They put up with my awful writing and they help me transform it into something I geuniely enjoy. They're the reason I'm so proud of this fic.

After meeting his new neighbor, things gradually went from petty glares from Constance to her talking about him in public to anyone who would listen, talking about the incident that caused her to be cross with him. Though some people did agree with her that it was a shitty situation, most of her reactions were claiming that she was overreacting. One thing she hated hearing was that she was going too far with something, especially when it came to something so petty as this. Perhaps it was that she wanted a genuine apology, and judging by the way things were going, she wasn’t going to get one. That bitterness slowly came out and soon she would make any excuse she could to stop by his shop.

It didn’t take him long to realize what she was doing, the way she stopped by so frequently only to not buy anything, only stand around and she seemed to be waiting for something from him. It wasn’t important or worth noting at first, but it began to get on his nerves. His customers were beginning to notice the strange lady that only seemed to be around to bother him, it was starting to cause some people to talk. At first he would approach her, but when he would ask what her problem was, she wouldn’t give him a straight answer. This went on for days, and she would only get more and more irritating as time went on, leaving empty coffee cups around the shop, and when he would check the cameras, he could see it was her. When he would approach her with it, she’d feign ignorance and claim she simply forgot. 

If she wanted to be irritating, he could do the same. He’d even gone out and bought a chalkboard, using it to advertise deals and at the bottom he’d throw in a small jab at the blonde. That got her to stop coming by unannounced without a purpose, and that was when he figured that he won. He thought it was over at that point, until he’d heard that she was talking to the other businesses. Mercedes tried to talk to him about it, but he was quick to dismiss it. Going behind his back to talk about the one miscommunication they had? He thought it was childish and frankly beneath him. 

Eventually Yuri found his way to get back at her, which was by using a nickname that she absolutely couldn’t stand. Whenever Yuri would see her, it was in the shade or in the comfort of the indoors. She never left her building without a parasol or something to shield her from the sun, promptly earning her the nickname “Shadylady”. Not to mention those stupid designer sunglasses she would wear even indoors. It was clever, and for whatever reason, she would get incredibly huffy and uptight about it, how could he not use it? It started off harmless, but eventually regulars to his shop would ask why he was being so petty about something like this. In return, he’d just smile and shrug, claiming that it was nothing short of fun. But little did they know, the two of them thought of it like a war. 

Slowly things got more and more heated as time went on, and it was to the point he was already beginning to plan out what he was going to throw at her next if he saw her the next day. 

~

On a beautiful, sunny Thursday afternoon, Yuri sat at one of his tables as he regularly checked his phone for the time, then checking back at his clock on the wall, making sure that the times matched up. “Oh come on, they should have been here five minutes ago…” He groaned in annoyance, tapping his fingers on the table as he didn’t even bother to touch his cup of tea he made. A young college student came into his shop and wanted to ask if they could get him for an interview about the shop a couple days ago for their blog, along with their entrepreneurship class. It wasn’t rare for Yuri to be asked for interviews about his tea shop, usually by bloggers who liked to talk about the most underrated, niche topics. Though he always refused video interviews, he was more than glad to lend his voice. He played it off as if he was camera shy, but in reality it was too much of a risk to his other life. Not to mention, he'd heard of this blogger before. Bernadetta Varley was an upcoming writer who also had a well known blog, ontop of being a student. If she included you in a featured post, popularity was bound to rise. 

Another five minutes passed by and a very frazzled girl with short purple hair walked into the shop, her brown eyes looking around with a blush on her cheeks. Yuri raised an eyebrow to her and he watched her as she apologized the entire way over to his table. It was evident that she was embarrassed by her lack of punctuality, but there wasn’t much to be done about it now. 

“I’m so terribly sorry, the bus I took on drove right past me and then my cab driver kept taking the wrong turns until I eventually had to get out, call another cab and-” She spoke way too fast, it was almost hard for him to keep up as she was quick to try and get out her excuses. She let out a deep breath, collecting herself. “Anyways, I do apologize. Would you still be alright with taking place in this interview? Please?” She asked, her eyes pleading him to keep the interview, and with a sigh, he nodded. His reaction got her to quickly sit down and she smiled nervously at him before rummaging through her backpack. When she wasn’t looking, Yuri let out a sigh, looking back at the counter. He remembered that he’d given Balthus the day off, something about how he wanted to go see his mom for the long weekend, and being the momma’s boy he was, he told his friend he could have it off. 

Finally the woman had gotten her things together and then pushed a button on her phone, nodding to him to signal that she had begun recording, like they had agreed to do. “Hello, Bernie-bear here for my interview with the owner of the famous Birdhouse Tea on Enbarr street. This is one of the oldest unique shops to open in the downtown area. It’s well known for its reputation along with location.” She began her introduction, her voice faltering every now and then with a nervous stutter. “Would you mind giving a short introduction for the interview?” She asked, looking up to him before she readied her pencil.

“Thank you for bringing me onto this interview. I’m Yuri Leclerc, I’m twenty five years old and I’ve owned this shop for five years now, taking over the business from my mother who’s now retired.” He spoke clearly, quickly adjusting his posture so he would be closer to the phone. “My mother built this tea shop fifteen years ago, deciding to start her own business to work off her debts and make something for herself. At twenty years old, I was a higher up for a tech company, but after seeing how much my mom was working, I decided to beat out any offers that she’d been given for the business and take over it myself.” 

He continued to talk about the history of his shop, a story that he’d told a thousand times. He pointed out the pictures on the walls, each one representing a different part of his store’s history. The girl seemed interested, quickly jotting notes as she would ask various different questions. He was glad to answer many of them, talking about how he and his mother create their blends, about his one staff member, and what a day in the life of a tea shop owner looked like. The conversation was easy to keep up, and he was rather impressed with her knowledge about his store already. Someone must have been doing their homework. 

Eventually the conversation about his neighbors was brought up, and he talked positively about the bookstore, the bakery, and the spots that he thought of off the top of his head. Suddenly a look of inspiration came to the girl, and she looked across the street to the nightclub, then back to him. 

“I hope I'm not prying too much by asking this, but how has the new nightclub affected your business? I’ve read a few articles saying that the first few weekends since they’ve been opened was nothing short of a full house. Has it negatively affected your business?” Yuri bit back a sigh, knowing that eventually it was going to be brought up. He also looked across the street, seeing Hapi curse out an audacious squirrel that snuck off with some sort of sweet that she dropped, then he brought his attention back to Bernadetta. 

“It hasn’t, not significantly. I keep my regular clientele through the day, then they go there for the night. I’m no stranger to going over there either and the owners frequently stop by my little shop. Though that Shadylady and I have a… Competition of sorts.” Yuri laughed while he clearly piqued the interest of the girl, her hands fidgeting as she processed what he said, then quickly wrote something down. 

“Shadylady? Could I get you to clarify who that might be for our listeners?” She asked, her eyes on her paper as she went over her notes. Just talking about her made him look across the street, no longer seeing his friend getting mad at the street animals, then looking back to her. “The nightclub across the street is owned by a close friend of mine, Hapi. Her business partner is who I refer to as Shadylady, just as a teasing nickname for her, she loves it.” He didn’t mention that he didn’t actually know her name, even after the few weeks they’d been neighbors. All he heard her referred to as was that nickname Hapi gave her, and he refused to call her Coco. “She’s the uptight one who doesn’t quite know how to unwind.” Yuri explained, grinning with a smug look that made her quickly jot down some notes, looking back up to him before she would jot down some more. 

Curious, Yuri looked over to her paper and raised an eyebrow when he could have sworn that he saw her write something about a “hidden relationship?” in her notes, and he had to bite his tongue. If she was going to bring it up, he would be glad to tell her that she was wrong and had their entire dynamic backwards, but then the thought occurred to him. What if he didn’t clarify and it somehow got back to her? As funny as it might have been, he knew he couldn’t have left it like that. “Now, I know that makes it sound like she and I are together, but I can assure you I would never settle like that. Not to mention she can’t stand me either, it’s a fun dynamic we have.” He made sure to clarify, knowing that she was going to have his head if he hadn’t.

The rest of the interview went without a hitch and it was nearly sunset when she finally ended the recording, thanking him for this opportunity and he thanked her for the free publicity, smiling at her. He swore he could see the pink in her cheeks, stammering quietly as she quickly got her things together. The reaction made him laugh, and he watched as she left the tea shop. Hopefully Bernadetta would link him to the post she would inevitably make about the interview, he always did enjoy reading back his own interviews. And not to mention he clarified that his relationship with the blonde was nothing worth noting, surely no one was going to look too deeply into it. 

~

That Saturday was a rainy day, which usually meant business was going to be great or terrible, a roll of the dice. Unluckily for him, Yuri found himself bored out of his mind as he had his phone on the counter, talking to Balthus over a call as he swept his floor for the third time that day. Balthus sounded as if he was enjoying an extremely sunny day back in his hometown, and hearing him brag without a hint of subtlety was getting on his nerves, but the least he could do was not be a jerk while he had no other means of entertaining himself. The radio wasn’t interesting either, just a soft pop song played from the top charts list. 

As he set his phone on one of the shelves so he could dust, he heard the ding of the bell above the front door and clicking against the floor, heels he assumed. Before he could even guess who it was, he heard her voice.

“You fiend!” Constance marched angrily into his shop, her cheeks a light pink color as she held her phone, searching for something she undoubtedly wished to show him. In her other hand, she had a paper cup that he assumed was full of a drink, though it was missing the logo of her usual coffee shop. He looked behind him to look at what she was on about, and then sighed. Every time she spoke to him, it was draining. He swore that she could drain all of his energy from him by just having a conversation. “Have you no shame? I cannot believe your audacity to even have the thought of saying something like this floating through your thick skull-” She began to rant before he let out an annoyed sigh at her, which only seemed to agitate her more. 

“Come on Shadylady, what’s got you in such a knot?” Yuri said, before he turned back to cleaning his shelves, not even bothering to pay her attention, knowing that it got on her nerves when he spoke to her without looking at her. It was hard to hide the smug grin when he heard her annoyed huff and she walked closer to him, then suddenly he heard his voice from her phone. _“...who I refer to as Shadylady, just as a teasing nickname for her, she loves it.”_ The only thing Yuri could do is roll his eyes and once again he turned his head to look at her, and the look on her face was similar to an elementary school teacher who just heard one of their students swear for the first time. Clearly she wasn’t a fan of the nickname, but he wasn’t going to apologize for making a joke at her expense. Now that he thought about it, it did seem mean. “And…?” It was most definitely not the response she wanted. 

“And?! You know where I stand with that nickname, especially when you know nothing of my condition!” 

Wait, did she say a condition? Yuri genuinely didn’t know anything about a condition, and the only thing he could do is sigh and shake his head, putting his hands up in defense. After a split second, she realized that she said too much and stopped talking for a second. The two of them didn’t have anything to say, and they realized the clip kept playing. It reached the part where he called her uptight, then the part where he mentioned that he would never settle for someone like her. The more red her face got with embarrassment and anger, the more that he found it hard to take her seriously. 

“I’m surprised you’re taking everything so personally, I thought someone like me couldn’t get under your skin.” Yuri said with an eyebrow raised, and Constance crossed her arms, pushing pause on the interview. The way she scoffed at him was reminiscent of a stuffy rich person from the movies, and he could only roll his eyes yet again at her. “A word of advice, for free; Don’t take everything so personally. It’s why people like me think you’re uptight and a pain.” 

“You know, I am so tired of you thinking you are so much better than me, Yuri.” Finally the source of her frustrations were starting to come out, and he wasn’t interested in getting involved. “Your stupid look on your face when you are so convinced that you have won an argument. I’m not sure what you think of yourself, but clearly it is too high on a pedestal. Like honestly, what is your problem with me? I have done exactly nothing to you.” Constance began to dig into him, but all he could do was laugh as his own arms crossed, his eyes narrowing as he waited for her rambling to be over. And Constance knew that wasn't true... For the most part. She truly believed she had done nothing to justify this sort of reaction from him.

“Are you done with your temper tantrum?” Yuri’s voice was condescending as he took a step towards her as an attempt to take control of their argument and intimidate her. Though when she stood her ground, he normally would have commended her for her stubbornness if she hadn’t managed to hit every single one of his nerves. “Perhaps it has to do with the way you walk around with your designer brands expecting everyone to fall at your feet, well that’s not how this works. There are people who have fought to keep things the way they are, and you’ve shown up and ruined it without a consideration for what goes on here.” Even he wasn’t sure why he was getting so defensive, but he couldn’t help but figuratively push back. 

“You know, I have you all figured out.” She said, which Yuri immediately raised an eyebrow, pushing her to explain. “You’re an egotistical nobody who would not even have an entourage or even a regular clientele if you were not incredibly good looking. You need everyone’s attention on you at all times to make you feel decent about yourself, and now you have built up an ego about it.” Constance laughed, looking him eye to eye. It didn’t help since he was a few inches taller than her, and the way he looked down at her was enough to make her want to storm off then and there. But instead, all he could do was give her that frustrating grin, and once again moved a bit closer to her, causing her to move away this time, causing her to flinch slightly. 

“You just called me good looking.” It was then Constance knew she messed up and lost the fight. The look of shock on her face only made him push further. “Aw, Shadylady, is that what this is about?” The tone of his voice made her sick. “Don’t tell me this is all because I said I wouldn’t lower my standards for someone like you?” The way he spoke down to her made her clench her fists, the familiar pain of her nails digging into her palm, the way he dropped his grin and looked at her with nothing short of a look of disdain. Her reaction was exactly what he needed to know he was winning. 

He especially knew he won when suddenly she let out a noise of complete frustration, a combination of a whine and a yell, then suddenly she had thrown whatever was in her paper cup at him and stormed out, leaving him to simply stand there and blink in surprise and entertainment. Was it odd that the first thing he noticed was that she threw a cold cup of his favorite tea at him? 

After a moment, his own frustration set in and all he could do was scoff at her going back across the street, seeing her turn back to him with those obnoxious sunglasses she always wore before stomping off into her stupid nightclub. Yuri wiped the tea from his eyes and then set off to go get a mop, then put up a sign saying that he was going for a break so that he could clean up the mess that the frustrating woman made for him. 

~

Constance stomped back into her apartment where Hapi was laying on the couch, playing a game on her phone. She didn’t even need to look up to tell that the confrontation had gone poorly. “So… How did it go?” Hapi asked as the blonde stormed past her and off into her own room, where she swore she could hear a muffled scream against a pillow. It made Hapi pause her game and look back to the room. “I’ll take it things went well?” She said, cracking a joke.

The door opened and Constance had changed into a sweater that Hapi had gotten her for her birthday a few years ago and sweatpants, her hair even a mess. It was astounding how fast someone could change when they were angry. “You’re right Hapi, things went incredibly well and now the…” It was as if Hapi could see the gears in her brain turning as she struggled to come up with an appropriate adjective, “complete jerk across the street isn’t covered in my tea.” Constance sulked and her best friend feigned shock at her choice of insult, then hearing that her tea was spilled, or rather thrown. 

“Whoa Coco, language.” It was a simple tease with a hint of sarcasm but it earned a proper annoyed eye roll from her, clearly she was not in the mood to have her buttons pushed, even if they were pushed by a friend. “Sorry. Anyways, you threw your tea at him?” 

“I did! He was getting too close, and he was getting on my nerves and-” Constance grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, getting her frustration out as the other girl looked at her. Though her expression looked like she couldn’t care less, Hapi’s eyebrow was raised slightly, meaning she wanted to hear more about the story. It was a subtle change that only those who had been around Hapi for an extensive amount of time would recognize. For a second, she swore she saw the other girl’s head about to pop off, but all it took was a simple hand on her shoulder to get her to calm down. 

“It’s probably best if you stay out of this for a bit. I’ll do the running around, I guess.” Her tone made it sound like she didn’t care, but Constance knew that she was just trying to help. With a deep breath, the blonde nodded at her offer. It was probably best if she took a bit to unwind and let everything blow over. After their conversation, Constance went to their nearly empty freezer, knowing that she was going to have to ask Hapi to grab groceries, and settled on her ice cream, spending the rest of the rainy day eating her frozen dessert with a sulk. 

~

Yuri grabbed his mop and then went back to where his phone was, then realized that he was on call with Balthus that entire time, and heard him laugh. Immediately he went over to his phone, his face flushed in embarrassment. When he picked up his phone, he could hear his friend finally pipe up over the phone. 

“That was nasty, what happened at the end? You two-” Before Balthus could even finish his sentence, Yuri cut him off. 

“She threw her drink at me.” His voice was clearly annoyed, as he began cleaning up the mess, and his reaction only made Balthus laugh harder. At least someone was enjoying their fight. “Laugh all you want, Balthus. I’m sure you find this hilarious.” He muttered, looking down to his uniform, huffing to himself. He knew he would have to get changed and shower, but before taking care of himself, he wanted to make sure that there was no mess left over.

The fact Balthus had overheard everything was simultaneously a nightmare, and a blessing for the next time that they argued. He would have Balthus to back him for when she inevitably would deny her little slip up. Grabbing his phone finally, he headed back upstairs, listening to Balthus blab on about the argument before Yuri hung up to take a shower and get changed. This time he only put on light makeup, some eyeliner at most before he made sure that he was presentable, then returning back downstairs like nothing had happened that day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following their argument, Enbarr street prepares for the biggest tourist event of the year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta give a huge thanks to my amazing beta reader, I appreciate you so so much and thank you for everything you do for me!

After the argument, Yuri did his best to act like nothing happened, not wanting to let her get under his skin anymore than she already had; but to also not give her that satisfaction, even though he hadn’t actually seen her for a few days. Hapi stopped by a few times, and he knew that she heard about their argument, but he was glad it didn’t affect her when she came by. Hapi never let drama ruin the beat of her own drum, which made her a valuable asset to have in his life. 

It was nearing summer vacation for the students in two weeks time, which meant that Enbarr was about to get very busy, very quickly.

One of the first and the biggest events of the summer was where they would close down the main street to only foot traffic and all the stores would set out outdoor booths while the city provided entertainment, such as hiring local bands, hosting family restaurants, paying for the advertisements, and even special booths usually for children and teenagers. The previous year they had a giant bounce house along with a petting zoo, and the year before they’d had an entire area as a spray park of sorts and a dunk tank. It was a big deal to anyone who was lucky enough to have a place on the main street, such as himself. And for such a tight-knit community, everyone was excited to learn what the others were doing, and then afterwards everyone usually got together to have their own big event for the shop owners. The previous year, they’d all gone out bowling, the year before they all rented a boat and went out for the rest of the weekend. 

Yuri had already begun planning with Balthus on what they could do. It was decided that Yuri would be outside in his tent, giving samples to his most popular teas while Balthus would man the store from inside in the comfort of his air conditioning. Though because House Nuvelle was new, he was wondering what Hapi had planned on doing, but when he would ask her, she would tell him it was a secret. It was the sort of answer he expected, but he wondered if she underestimated how busy this event would be. 

~

It felt like a strategy meeting when he had Balthus sitting with him in his apartment, the two of them eating takeout pizza. Balthus drank from the six-pack he brought, but Yuri hated the brand, leaving Balthus to enjoy it all on his own. They brainstormed things they could do to make it more likely to have people stop by, but if the majority of the traffic was going to be tourists, he doubted just being flirty was going to be enough. Besides, his mother was planning on stopping by to see the event herself, and he didn’t want her to think he wasn’t working hard on ensuring that he was making the most of the event. 

“What about a dunk tank into a thing of tea?” Balthus said, causing Yuri to shake his head, eating another piece of the greasy pizza. 

“No vat of tea, it would be way too expensive, not to mention it would attract bugs. The last thing we need is for there to be a bug problem.” He said, knowing that he was already going to have to come up with a smaller scale solution for the inevitable presence of bugs. “What if we started with free samples and moved our equipment outside?” The suggestion made the other man shake his head, brushing his long black hair out of his face. 

“Unless you can carry all the equipment outside and enjoy that huge power bill, then be my guest.” He was right, and it made him groan in frustration. It was already three in the morning, and the event was in less than two weeks. He’d already planned to have tables and chairs outside to let people sit down and relax. He just needed to figure out a way to make everything work together. Considering how late it was and the fact they had both been stumped, they decided to call it a night and instead put on a movie. The nightclub across the street was just as busy as it always was on the weekends, but since his fight with the blonde, Yuri had no interest in going, unless Hapi asked him to for whatever reason. 

As he sat with Balthus, he couldn’t even begin to focus on the move that was put on. Part of him was still hung up on what Shadylady told him during their fight, and how awful it made him out to be. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t know that she had something wrong with her, aside from an ego and a sense of entitlement. Perhaps if he bugged Hapi about it, she would fill him in. Maybe it was out of stress, or frustration over not being able to stop thinking about that stupid fight a couple days ago; Yuri let out an annoyed sigh.

“Listen, I know this movie isn’t the greatest, but it’s a national treasure.” He defended the movie, clearly misreading what the other was annoyed about. Balthus being himself was enough to give Yuri a headache with little to no exceptions, but it was a good thing to have someone around him that would bring back the human side of him instead of being trapped in his own mind. If looks could kill, Balthus would be maimed and he laughed at the reaction. “This isn’t like you man, is this about the fight with that broad?” He asked, looking back to the movie. Yuri stayed silent, the bigger man seemed satisfied learning the answer. “Do what I do. Get super drunk, fight some dudes at the bar, get her attention and she’ll drop at your feet.” 

The purple haired man could only scoff and shake his head. “You’re an idiot.” His comment made the other man gasp and frown. “I don’t care for you” he used his fingers to use quotation marks, “solving my problems, really. It’s not a problem to begin with, and you’ve read this entire situation wrong.” Yuri closed his eyes as he leaned against the back of his couch, sighing softly. He didn’t even see the other’s reaction, but the muffled laugh was enough to make him grumble to himself, falling asleep on his couch beside Balthus. 

~

Once again, the club was in full swing and all Constance could do was sulk and sit at her bar and drink. The music was loud and people around her were having fun, which usually was enough to make her enjoy her night, but when she looked out the window to the tea shop, it made her upset. Usually she wasn’t the type of person to mull over something like this, someone liking her wasn’t a new concept to her, but he got to her in a way that no one ever achieved. The bartender began to notice the pout and she went over, sliding the girl a cup of water, which earned a look from her, but she accepted nonetheless. Perhaps she did need to slow down, but the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she got. 

Constance had never felt so outmatched in a fight, the way he looked down to her with a look that she hadn’t seen in a long time and she absolutely hated it. Making her way to where she was now meant that the disrespect was supposed to end, even if she started it. A few years ago, she could have stormed into a room and started a fight with anyone from her office, and they wouldn’t have done anything about it. Having her authority and her position challenged made her feel small, and she refused to feel that way again. Letting out a frustrated groan, she rested her head on the bar, the counter rumbling slightly from the bass from the song. She heard the seat beside her shift and she was greeted by the familiar face of her most recent friend, Dorothea Arnault who had a drink in her hand along with a few people from her entourage around her. Lifting her head, Constance grinned to her in greeting, it was slightly drunk and fake, but it made the other girl laugh in response.

“Aw, Connie, what’s the pout for?” She asked, and before she could come up with a response, Hapi came over and wrapped her arm around the blonde. 

“Fought with Yuribird, the guy across the street. Threw her drink at him. They’re not talking.” Her response was short and simple, sipping on her own drink as the blonde nodded, going back to pouting with her head on the bar. Hearing the nickname made the brunette’s eyes light up and she set her drink down on a napkin, looking at the two. 

“You two know Yurikins? Small world.” Dorothea laughed, grinning as she heard the groan come from the blonde who was annoyed even hearing his name, rather his nickname. “You’re so cute, Connie.” The comment only made the blonde huff and shake her head, but the brunette only took a sip of her drink as she began to think. “Anyways, a big event should be coming up, have you two heard? Enbarr always makes it a big event.” Hearing her change the subject made Constance sit up and start listening. 

“It’s a bit of a surprise.” Hapi answered simply with another sip of her drink, and Constance nodded as she finished her glass of water. The answer made a few people laugh and wait for her to elaborate, but all Hapi could do is shrug in response, her face deadpan. “It was hard to come up with an idea, being a nightclub and twenty-one plus. But Coco is a genius.” Hapi was scrolling through her phone, but the compliment didn’t go unnoticed and did its job in cheering the other up.

“I cannot take all of the credit, but I assure you that it will be a grand idea that will only get the word out more than ever, even with Hapi’s brilliant advertising. We wish to be secretive simply because it will be more intriguing and convince people to stop by and see what the secret is about.” Constance began explaining her thought process, her cheeks still flushed from the alcohol in her system, but clearly getting her mind off her troubles brought her back to her regular self. Hapi looked up from her phone and grinned at her business partner and Dorothea could only look at the pair of them and grin, nodding along to their idea. 

“Brilliant marketing and strategy, I’ll let you know when I’ll be on my way over then.” She picked her drink up. “We’re going to head back to our spot, but you two enjoy your night.” With that, Dorothea and her group went to sit back in the VIP area, most of them grinning at them as they passed. One in particular looked to Constance for a fleeting second, before disappearing into the crowd with the others. While the blonde was blissfully unaware, Hapi narrowed her eyes at the ginger man before she sat back down. For the rest of the night, Hapi convinced the other not to drink any more alcohol and enjoy water for the rest of the night and they decided to enjoy the night now that Constance seemed over her pity party. Dancing, laughing with strangers and enjoying the night until they had to close up and retire for the night. 

~

Two weeks passed and finally the big event was going to start. Friday morning at eight in the morning, it was already beautiful and sunny, hot and low humidity made it a perfect summer day and had basically ensured that it was going to be a big weekend. With only an hour to finish preparations, Yuri and Balthus were essentially running like chickens with their heads cut off. Balthus was tidying around inside the shop while Yuri was setting up his small booth. He’d hired a friend of his to watch his stall while he had actually set up a face painting station to entertain any kids that wanted to stop by and hopefully talk their parents into trying some of his tea. It was a cheesy idea, but if it brought people to the stall, it was well worth it. 

He wasn’t an artist by any merit, but he made a bet with Balthus and actually lost, which hadn’t happened very often. They made stupid bets all the time, usually ranging from who could get the most tips in a shift to who would win in an arm wrestle. They’d gotten an impartial judge, someone who knew nothing about tea to make it fair and had them try two cups of the same tea to see who would make it better and the judge chose Balthus, which enraged Yuri at first, but later heard that it was because the guy didn’t like how Yuri did his makeup. It wasn’t a fair judgement, but Balthus accepted the win regardless. If it was a real competition, Yuri knows he would have won. 

Not being a sore loser, Yuri got his dollar store face paint ready and he adjusted the chair that the guests would sit in, making sure it was in the shade of the stall. The event didn’t officially start until nine, so he still had some time to figure it out. 

Everyone on the block was panicking and running around, making sure their own stalls were going to be perfect, and the only one that didn’t look completely panicked was Mercedes. The angel of a blonde came over with a smile and her typical brown bag with his name written on it. Greeting her with his own grin, he brushed his long bangs out of his face. That reminded him he’d need a ponytail at some point. “Ah Mercedes, the goddess herself.” He greeted with his typical sly grin and she only giggled in response, handing him his bag.

Opening the bag, he could smell the sugar cookies and the sweet tooth part of him made him eagerly take out a cookie, seeing it was frosted to look like a beach ball, undoubtedly summer themed since it was technically the first day of summer. The other three cookies were also various summer themed cookies, and the look on Mercedes’ face told him he was waiting for her opinion. He took a bite out of the cookie in his hand and he hummed. “Delicious as always, Mercedes.” He grinned and he could see her sigh out of relief.

“I’m glad to hear, it was a new recipe that I have been trying to get right in time for today, and that was my test batch.” She admitted, grinning innocently as he raised an eyebrow at her, then looked back at the cookies.

“So if these had turned out terribly, you would have still given them to me?” He asked with slightly narrowed eyes and a grin which made her giggle and wave him off. He noticed that she still had another bag in her hands and curiosity got the best of him, trying to read the name on the bag. Seeing his reaction, she showed it to him and he read the name “Connie” which made him narrow his eyes. He didn’t know anyone that went by that name, and before she could respond, her attention was brought to the other blonde woman across the street with an umbrella in her hands and a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. 

“I must deliver these before they melt under this sun, but I look forward to stopping by later!” Mercedes said with a hum before crossing the street and Yuri immediately glared as he watched her go off and deliver a bag to her. 

Now this was getting personal. First she takes away from his business, takes away his sleep schedule due to her music, and now he has to share his cookie deliveries? This “Connie” or “Coco” or whatever her name was overstepped some boundaries and he wanted to go tell her off, but feeling a tap on his shoulder made him jump. He turned to see Balthus snatching the bag from his hands and stealing a sweet from him, which made the shorter man grab them away from him and return to getting the final preparations finished up. The entire time he was trying to ignore his petty feelings.

~

Across the street, Constance was setting up her booth with Hapi’s help, getting the tent set up along with the signage to head inside. They hadn’t had anything set up outside, which most people were surprised at, but the real preparations were being done inside by a majority of their staff that was able to work during the day. Constance got her small stereo and connected her phone to it, getting the other girl’s playlist loaded up. 

Inside, they had replicated their usual interior, but instead made it minor friendly, including one corner that had televisions and video game systems, from Hapi’s personal collection, the dance floor where the kids and adults alike would be able to have fun, and behind the bar all the alcohol was removed and instead replaced with different juices and water, along with a menu that had different “mocktails” as they called them, giving the adults an idea of what their menu looked like, except everything for that day was without without a trace of alcohol, at least during the day while minors were still allowed in. 

Greeting her childhood friend, they began talking about their events for the day while Hapi took her friend’s bag of sweets inside, sneaking a cookie for herself. “This sounds like a super fun idea, Connie, I only wish that I’d be able to stop by and check it out for myself.” Mercedes smiled softly and Constance laughed and waved her off, setting up her own chair in the comfort of the shade from the tent. 

“I cannot take all of the credit, however. Hapi made a lot of this happen on her own, and while I can only hope people will stop by and get an idea of what we are about, I’m the unlucky one that gets to sit outside and serve as an information booth. So I will get to enjoy sitting outside as much as you do.” Though she did frown when she’d said it, and the other blonde nodded.

“Ah, yes, but at least your condition shouldn’t affect you under this tent, and you have your sunglasses. Hopefully it will all work out, and if you need anything at all, wave me over.” Mercedes offered and Constance could only smile, thanking the other for her graciousness. Though it was as if she could feel someone’s eyes on her, she looked across the street to see Yuri glaring over at her for no reason. Was he still upset she threw her drink at him? Luckily her eyes were shielded from behind her sunglasses so he wouldn’t be able to tell that she was glaring back at him. Though Mercedes was always able to have a good guess of what she was thinking; her own eyes looking back to Yuri with a grin before laughing softly made Constance look back at her and tilt her head in curiosity. 

“What is so funny?” She asked, and Mercedes only giggled a bit quieter, shaking her head without answering before going back to her own tent, leaving Constance to call out to her before she pouted, setting up her little area. It was bound to be a long day, while Hapi got to sit inside and manage the bar, Constance got to sit outside and be extremely warm all day. 

Finally, nine hit and since it had just opened, only a few people had started walking around, but everyone knew that it was going to only get busier and busier through the day. As soon as people started showing, both of the shop owners were able to forget their petty feud and get their own priorities figured out on advertising their businesses as best as they could. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things move in motion, and finally Constance has a one-up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I often wonder how many different ways I can say thank you to my amazing beta reader, and I'm determined to keep finding ways to do so!

Within the first hour, people were already starting to stop by and take advantage of the beautiful day. All sorts of people from all across Fódlan stopped by, and Yuri was standing in the sun with a small tray of free samples, smiling at anyone he could to catch their attention. It worked as well, he’d already gotten the attention of a large portion of people who were willing to try his iced tea, which couldn’t have been a better idea on a day like this. The most popular one that people seemed to enjoy was the lemon iced tea blend that he’d created a few nights ago and it didn’t take him overly long until he had to send out his buddy to buy more ice. The heat was overwhelming, but it was worth it to see Enbarr get as busy as it was. Balloons, flowers, music everywhere you went; Who could ask for a more eventful day?

Currently, Yuri sat in front of a young girl who wanted to have purple butterflies and flowers on her cheeks. While Yuri had no artistic talent, he was going to at least do his best to win the heart of the single mother who was staring adoringly at him. Perhaps he could convince her to also buy a couple tins of tea. The little girl giggled at the feeling of the face paint and her eyes went to her mother.

“Mommy, I chose purple because of him! Can I get pretty purple hair like him?” The little girl called out to her mother and the compliment made Yuri genuinely grin a little. As much as he appreciated the compliment, he went back to doing his best at drawing a second butterfly on her cheek

Maybe he’d ask Balthus to print him off a piece of paper that had simple design options that even he would be able to make, but for the moment he paid his attention to the little girl. “Can you also make my eyes pretty like yours?” She asked innocently and he could only laugh, shaking his head. His lavender eyes definitely were something stunning, but he wasn’t going to encourage a child under the age of ten to change her looks. 

“Why would you do that? Clearly blue eyes are better.” He said with a grin, then suddenly he bit back a scowl, remembering someone that had piercing blue eyes and he brought his attention to his little customer and handed her a mirror so she could see his mediocre at best work. 

Apparently it was good enough for her and the girl hopped off the chair and ran back to her mother who came over and handed him a twenty dollar bill. Curiously he raised an eyebrow and she looked bashful almost. 

“Keep the change. Thank you.” She said quickly before she brought her daughter to go to a different booth, and Yuri only shrugged, pocketing the money she gave him. It was too easy sometimes, and he wasn’t going to turn down free tips, especially not an additional eighteen dollars. Going back to his table, he put the money into his change box and took a sip from his cup. It’s only been a short while since he’d started, but it was already tiring. Luckily for him though, no one else decided on going with face painting for their gimmick, so most of the traffic was coming to him. Not to mention when someone would see little kids with their face painted, others would want it, nothing but profits for him, which was exactly what he wanted.

~

As the sun only seemed to intensify, the more uncomfortable and worried Constance got sitting under her tent, her leg bouncing nervously as she sat in her fold up chair. Because of the amount of people, Constance wanted to look as approachable as she could, so she’d taken off her sunglasses and smiled more, however she was aware of every flash of light was even remotely close to her direction. Hapi and her had decided that one person would spend one half of the day outside and the other person inside, and she was the poor woman that ended up outside first. Not to mention it was hot and she desperately relied on her fan and her cold drink she’d gotten from a food stand. All because she’d lost a simple bet with Hapi over who could drink more the weekend before, and Hapi being a creature of pure spite, she won. 

When people weren’t stopping by to talk to her, Constance would listen to the music and take a moment to people-watch. Watching people walk down Enbarr was a fascinating way to pass the time; The group of teenagers spending their first weekend of summer vacation together, the exhausted parents controlling toddlers, and the young couples using the day as a date was interesting to watch. Something about making a big deal out of a certain day brought people together, she noticed. Even from outside, she could hear people from inside her building having fun. Laughter from adults and children alike made her certain that their idea was a success. 

After a short while, she leaned back in her chair to stretch her back, getting sore after sitting in her spot for so long, but then felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to turn and see her favorite redhead with a drink. Before Constance could comment, Hapi shook her head with a sly grin before handing the drink off. Taking a sip, Constance recognized it as one of their mocktails, a non-alcoholic mojito, a _nojito_ if you will. Hapi hated the name, but Constance already printed it on all of the menus before she could have changed her mind. 

“You look dead, Coco.” Hapi pointed out, drinking her drink that had a little umbrella in it. Her comment made the blonde laugh obnoxiously and shake her head, taking a sip of her own drink. 

“You are sorely mistaken, I’m quite enjoying myself at the moment being in this sweltering heat while I am forced to watch my rival across the street.” Her voice was higher pitched as the sarcasm seeped into her tone as she glared over to the unassuming man across the street. The comment of him being her rival made Hapi roll her eyes and nudge the other.

“You’re being weird. Rival is a bit dramatic.” It was like Hapi to let her know when she was being dramatic, but Constance chose to ignore her all the same. “Anyways, business is good inside. Kids can’t sing though.” Her comment made the blonde laugh again and she shrugged. It was a small price to pay to get their name out, that and the price of a karaoke machine that would undoubtedly work for their usual open nights too. Even if they weren’t the busiest place on the block, it was enough to get their names out there to people who may not have known who they were, and because of Hapi’s following online, it only worked in their favor when they advertised the event on her page. 

“Yes, most children may not sing well, but imagine the events we could host on the weekends. Such as karaoke nights, or game nights. Trivia nights?” The last one got Hapi to make a face, clearly not a fan of the idea. It wasn’t that Hapi didn’t enjoy events like this, but hosting them was something different. Maybe it’d be better if it was left to Constance to coordinate something like that. 

Hapi heard her name be called from inside and she excused herself to head back inside to leave the blonde to suffer in the heat. Letting out a groan, Constance slumped back into her seat, muttering to herself about unfairness and complaining about the heat, before adjusting her attitude in case anyone was looking over to her. When she sat up, she looked across the street to see Yuri stifle a laugh after he looked over, causing Constance to turn her nose and huff, going back to doing absolutely nothing.

~

The rest of the day went without much of a hitch. Around the evening, things finally slowed down since most left to go eat or go home after a long day of being in the heat. Yuri was counting through his change box, pleasantly surprised with the profits he’d managed to pull in from the day. Though many of his customers were young girls, he’d found himself enjoying the pastime, even if he wasn’t good at it. Anything for a pretty penny, he’d remember his mother saying when he was young. Speaking of, he recalled that he hadn’t seen her yet all day, and it was a bit disappointing. Perhaps it was not a good day for her to come out and visit the stall? Maybe tomorrow was going to be a better day for it.

While he was deep in thought, someone tapping his table got him to pay attention and he saw Hapi with a dollar in her hand. She was grinning as she looked to his cheap face paint and all he could do was shrug and grin as he got his supplies. It was nearly all used up, meaning his plan had been successful. Honestly, he didn’t expect the amount of people to stop by his table, and he didn’t expect the amount of sales of his tea. It was a success, and he had no room to complain. Motioning for Hapi to sit in the chair, he looked over the paper with generic looking designs that Balthus did end up getting him, and Hapi picked out some green flowers. 

“So how was business?” Yuri asked, and Hapi shrugged as she closed her eyes. He hummed along to some of the music that was playing. Usually he hated humming or singing along to music, but around Hapi he learned to not care since she didn’t. 

“Pretty good. Being outside is boring.” With that, Yuri nodded. Being outside for the entire day was often uneventful, but the attendees seemed to be enjoying it and enjoying the different special things each booth was offering. He sort of wished that he was one of the people walking around and enjoying the summer day, but having people give him money and raise money to go towards making the shop a better place couldn’t be complained about. “Did your mom stop by yet?”

Yuri shook his head, and shrugged a little in response, even if she couldn’t see it. “No, not today. She probably had something come up.” His response was short and the other simply nodded slightly. They didn’t talk much more about it, and he finished up the flowers on his friend’s cheeks. “Alright, Hapi, you’re finished.” He said grabbing a mirror. Seeing her reflection, Hapi grinned slightly with a small nod. 

“Cool.” Then she got up and then looked back to the club, then back to Yuri. Instead of going back to her side of the street, she decided to stick around for seemingly no reason, and it made him curious. Though he decided not to dwell on it for too long since the crowd had thinned out, leaving only tens of people walking about and he still had some tea to sell. While Yuri was going back to his sales, Hapi stuck around and watched as a woman approached Constance. Instead of letting Yuri know that his mother was here, she decided to watch the interaction. 

~

The blonde was sipping her drink and reading a book she had brought with her since things had died down and people weren’t in a big dancing mood. Constance honestly couldn’t blame them either, it was about time for her to beg Hapi to go get her some food while she was wandering around, but seeing that her friend was getting her face painted of all things was irritating at best. Though Constance refused to give that irritating man another thought as she focused on her book. 

“Hello?” Hearing a voice pipe up from in front of her, Constance quickly put her book down and smiled at the woman in front of her. 

The woman in front of her was beautiful, for lack of better words. Her hair was a pretty silver color with a hint of purple mixed in it, her eyes were a pretty blue-grey and her skin was without a single blemish. She looked like a model that could be in magazines or on television. Not wanting to take too long to respond, Constance cleared her throat and looked back to her, seeing her amused smile seemed oddly familiar. 

“I’d heard that a nightclub had opened up, but I hadn’t expected the owner to be so young.” The woman smiled and Constance scratched the back of her neck with a proud grin. She picked up one of the pamphlets that the blonde had made for the big weekend event and the woman curiously looked through it. “What do you think of Enbarr?” Her voice was kind, almost welcoming if Constance didn’t know better.

“I’m absolutely in love with the location. It was pricey to secure a spot here, but it was worth it!” She said confidently, looking around at the people passing by, but her attention went back to the woman who was also looking around, though it seemed like she was looking for something. “You speak as if you are familiar with Enbarr.” She pointed out and the woman laughed softly, nodding.

“Yes, I used to own the tea shop across the street for twenty years.” She smiled while she explained it to Constance, and the other woman could only stare up at her with a smile, what she was saying hadn’t quite clicked in. “I retired from it a few years ago though, my son had bought out all my offers and he’s the owner now. Speaking of which, he seems busy.” Her grey eyes looked over to her son, and Constance could only tense up, looking over to him as well. “Have you had a chance to meet him?” 

_"This is not good."_ The blue eyed woman thought to herself as she quickly looked back to her and then let out an awkward laugh. 

“Oh! Well, not formally, but we’ve been…” She paused as she tried to find a way to word her thoughts without coming off as rude. “We’ve been acquainted.” Hearing that, the woman’s mood only seemed to brighten and she smiled. 

“Isn’t he lovely? Such a hard worker that he doesn’t have the time to call his mother.” Her tone matched his usual teasing one. The similarities had started to line up in her mind. Though noticing how tense Constance was all of a sudden, she laughed quietly and then looked back to her son. “You look as if you’ve been very stressed this entire day, I remember how busy this used to be, but the amount of tourists really has grown through the years. Perhaps as a welcoming party, I can treat you and your friend to dinner?” 

“Oh that really is too kind, but-” Constance tried to talk her way out of it, but as if she materialized out of nowhere, Hapi suddenly popped up. From the corner of Constance’s eye, she could tell he was looking at her with an expression that she couldn’t decipher without actually looking at him. Sour was the only way she could describe it; Then a switch flipped. She didn’t want to offend this poor woman at first, but suddenly determination filled her. She was going to make his mom love her. For a second she looked over to him to see the steam coming off of him, and all she could do was grin at him, and he only looked more irritated.

“Hey Ms. Yuribird. We’d love to go.” Hapi answered, her stomach doing the talking as the woman smiled wide to her in greeting, delighted to hear her invitation was accepted. “We’re closing up in thirty minutes if you wanna hang around.” The blonde could only stare dumbfoundedly at her best friend, then smiled sweetly to the woman, only agreeing that it was going to be a pleasure to go out.. Anytime a free meal was offered, Hapi knew better than to turn it down. Hearing that her invitation was accepted, she smiled once again before taking off to head across the street.

Once the woman was out of earshot, Constance let out a deep sigh, shaking her head. Hapi seemed oddly amused at her suffering. “I cannot believe my terrible luck.” She said dramatically while Hapi shrugged, looking over. 

“Terrible luck? We’re getting a free meal Coco.” Hapi explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world while Constance pouted. It would have been easy for her to turn down the invitation and let her know exactly what she thought of her son, but Constance had an issue when it came to people’s moms. Pushing her personal feelings aside, she decided that it would have been better not to talk badly about her son. Glancing at them from her seat, she turned away with a deep sigh. It wouldn’t have been fair to have been so cruel, not when they looked so happy. 

~

When Yuri had finished up with Hapi, he noticed that she hadn’t gone back to her booth yet, which meant something was interesting enough to catch her attention. Following her gaze, his expression fell when he saw his mother talking to the woman he detested, suddenly nervous about what they were talking about. Was she going to lie to his mother and tell her awful things about him? This was the worst thing that could have happened that day. 

“She was supposed to text me…” He muttered to himself as he checked his phone and it wouldn’t turn on. _Shit_ , it must have died at some point through the day, and he’d been so preoccupied that he wasn’t able to check it. He kept looking back across the street, doing his best to read the other’s expression as they talked to his mother, and it was a bit of a relief to see that the blonde didn’t seem to realize it was his mother. 

To not seem weird for staring, he went back to cleaning around his booth and he watched as Hapi left and went to approach them, and he held his breath, hoping that she was going to be on his team and not talk trash about him to his own mother. Of course it had to be her that his mother would talk to, out of anyone on Enbarr. She had a knack for sensing his troubles after all. Seeing her smile at him with her smug expression only made him angry and all he could do was fume silently as he watched the three of them talk.

After tidying up, he saw his mother walk over to him and his troubles melted away momentarily. He smiled at her, going over so he could hug her in greeting. The way she hugged him back made him feel guilty for not calling as often as he would have liked. 

“You’re looking well, mother.” Yuri told her after she pulled away, seeing her smile to him made every muscle relax. Though she was in her forties, she never looked a day over twenty five. Perhaps it was why he and his mother got confused for siblings so often. Before they could catch up on small talk, the loud obnoxious footsteps of a certain older friend came over and leaned against his shoulder, winking to his mother. 

“Miss Leclerc, you’re looking especially fine this evening.” Balthus greeted, causing his mother to laugh softly and blush at his brashness, and the entire conversation made Yuri roll his eyes and push his friend off of him. Some friendly back and forth between the three of them went down while Yuri’s hired help handled any customers so they could talk.

Then she told him their dinner plans and he froze, trying not to seem shocked. How did his mother always manage to stir up trouble for him? It was entertaining to Balthus who loudly agreed to go, and before Yuri could decline, his mother gave him a look that was a frown combined with a pout, a look that he couldn’t just ignore. With a heavy sigh and a small eye roll, he begrudgingly agreed to go and join them for dinner. It was really just his luck that out of everyone, his mother would invite the one person he couldn’t stand for dinner. _Of course._


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somehow they have to pretend to get along over dinner, and Hapi expresses what she thinks of their feud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta reader who always takes the time out of their days to help me improve and write this fic. Their help means more than they'll know.

Once everyone had finished closing up for the night, both Yuri and Constance were dreading this dinner, though Constance saw it as a possible way to get under his skin more. If she managed to make his mother love her, maybe then she would talk about her and she figured nothing would bother him more than hearing about how great she was. It didn’t take Hapi long to pick up what she was doing.

“I wonder how long it’ll be ‘till Ms. Yuribird figures you out.” Hapi said as she helped take down the tent and Constance only laughed before checking that she was well out of earshot. Hapi may have doubted her, but Constance knew that this was nearly foolproof and would only work in her best effort, even if it meant that she would have to play nice with the one person she couldn’t stand. Before answering, she turned to look back at them, and she saw Mercedes talking to the three of them, and it only made her deviously grin. Turning back to Hapi, determination was written all over her face. With her parasol in one hand, they waited for the others.  “I do not follow. I simply wish to make a good impression, Hapi. You know what they say, I only wish to get to know the locals.” Acting innocent, or acting in general was never Constance’s strong suit, and Hapi was well aware of that, seeing right through her. 

“Yeah, I’m not sure that’s how that saying goes, Coco-” Before she could properly advise her against it, Balthus, Yuri and his mother approached them, and Constance only winked to Yuri before smiling at the older woman. 

“Thank you again for inviting us out, since we are unfamiliar with this area, we will leave the choice up to you!” Constance said before Balthus looked over to the redhead for clarification for what was happening, and all she could do was shrug. Yuri moved so he stood a bit behind his mother, mouthing something along the lines of  _ “You’re the worst”  _ and the blonde could only grin smugly at him.

While Yuri was going to suggest a place that would require them taking separate transportation, his mother disagreed, saying that there was a wonderful place to eat three blocks down where she knew the owners, and they’d be happy to give a discount. Ever the money conscious type, Yuri noted before he let out a small sigh and agreed to her idea. Balthus and Hapi were glad to go anywhere with food, and Constance simply went with the flow of things, plotting how she was going to win her over to her side. Yuri, his mother and Constance walked in front, the two of them on opposite sides of his mother, and Balthus and Hapi trailing behind, watching the tension grow. 

“Dear, is the sun bothering you?” Yuri’s mother asked curiously, and Constance nodded, smiling slightly as they walked, careful not to poke her with the parasol.

“Yes, I am afraid that I have a condition that does not allow me to be in direct sunlight for too long.” Constance explained, and from behind them, Balthus looked to Hapi, who only nodded to confirm that she wasn’t simply making it up. Before anyone could ask questions, Constance spoke up again. “I would prefer not to get into details for the time being, it is rather… Embarrassing if anything.” She laughed, and the other woman respected her request, and Yuri kept his comments to himself. 

The walk for the most part was Yuri talking with his mother about how well the tea shop was doing, bragging about his success and what he had managed to do so far, and Balthus would chime in as well. When he talked and bragged, his hands moved along to accentuate the stories he would tell, his expression lively too. Constance noted that he was a good story teller. Balthus would add in small stories himself, talking about his own experiences working in a tea shop, even mentioning that it was better than his last job at a casino. Having Balthus attest to his success made Yuri a bit more confident talking about how well the shop was doing to his mother. She looked impressed, and while they were talking, Constance took it upon her to move back beside Hapi so the two men could talk with her. Hapi looked at Constance, trying to get a read on what she was thinking, and all she did in return was smile, assuring her that she wouldn’t go too far into it. 

The walk didn’t take long, and people seemed to take notice of their group, and Constance supposed that to an onlooking group, perhaps it would be a weird sight all of them together.

~

Arriving at the restaurant, they managed to get a large booth which had Balthus, Yuri and Yuri’s mother sitting on one end with Hapi and Constance sitting across from them, meaning Yuri and Constance were facing the other. They ordered their drinks, and they decided to all take some time to order their food. The restaurant itself was actually quite nice, low lighting, comfortable chairs and good reviews. Even the hostess was quite lovely to them. 

Looking over the menu, both Constance and Hapi were excitedly looking through the options. Thinking back on it, it had been a while since they’d eaten something that wasn’t frozen or ready in five minutes with a microwave, and they excitedly talked about what they were wanting to order. Seeing their reaction, Balthus gladly joined in and Yuri’s mother let out a gentle laugh. The two of them decided to each get a plate of fish, and Balthus wanted the largest order of ribs he could possibly get. 

“I’m glad to see you’ve made some friends through the shop, Yuri.” His mother said to him while the three of them were chatting, and Yuri had a tight grin and a small nod in response as he looked through the menu. Luckily his mother didn’t appear to notice the way his eye twitched at the mention of them being friends, and after a small while, they all got their drinks and ordered their food. 

As soon as the waiter left, Yuri’s mother offered to pay, and in return Hapi and Constance insisted they covered their own meals, not wishing to cause any trouble. Knowing his mother would be too stubborn to let them pay, he reluctantly spoke up and said he would cover dinner, as a treat for his mother. When he looked over across from him, Hapi only shrugged and he noticed the look of confusion on Constance’s face, and rolled his eyes at her. 

The women talked, rather Constance and Yuri’s mom talked while Hapi occasionally chimed in, and Balthus leaned over to Yuri slightly. 

“Why’d you offer to pay?” He asked, before grinning widely. “Not that I’m complaining pal, a free meal is always the best meal.” His tone was playful, and Yuri only sighed, whispering back to him. 

“Because my mother would never let me live it down.” His answer was short before he heard his mother excuse herself to the washroom, leaving the four of them all sitting together. 

Finally Yuri decided to confront Constance about what she was doing. “Why are you here?” It was short and sweet, and it only made her grin at him more. 

“Oh, come now, we are supposed to be playing nice, aren’t we?” Her tone was sickly sweet, and it caused Hapi to laugh with a snort, before sipping her soda. “Besides, she invited us. Would it not have been awfully rude if I had declined?” She feigned innocence, and Yuri wasn’t buying it. 

“What are you trying to do here?” He kept his voice down so none of the staff could hear them, and she simply shrugged, holding up her finger so that she could take a sip from her drink, only pushing his buttons further. Balthus and Hapi were oddly quiet, letting the two of them bicker it out. “I figured it was like you to stick your nose in other people's business, but this is low.” He glared, and Constance put down her cup. Honestly, she was beginning to have enough of his accusations when it came to her, did he really think so lowly of her?

“My intentions are not as heinous as you think. She approached me, and what was I meant to do? Tell her that I truly do not like you?” Constance whisper-bickered back with him, then huffed, turning her nose as she always did when they talked. “Besides, I think you should treat me a bit nicer, I intend on being your mother’s new best friend.” Saying that, she deviously smirked and Yuri gasped, glaring at her. 

“You wouldn’t. Leave her out of this.” He warned, poking a finger in her direction before she widened her smile a bit more, glad he took her bait. The way she smiled made a chill run down his spine, and he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like what she was going to say.

“Enjoy seeing me around more. I’ll invite you both to dinners, even for a night out at House Nuvelle. I wonder what she thinks of karaoke.” It was mainly bluffs, but to see his reaction was simply too entertaining. The more she insisted that she was going to befriend his mother, the more personal he took it. “What? Afraid that I will eventually tell her what I think of you?” 

Before he could get his next response in, Yuri looked back to see his mother come back out and he shushed her, causing her to laugh as if he had said something funny, nudging Hapi to join in. Instead of following along, she just nodded slightly and grinned a little at the look on his face, and his mother came over, happy to see that they seemed to be in a good conversation. Constance winked at Yuri when she saw the smile on his mother’s face and it only caused him to clench his jaw, his eye twitching before he smiled, playing along when she came to sit back down. She seemed to buy their act.

“Oh my, and what might you two be laughing about?” His mother asked, and Yuri grinned before looking back to Constance with a sly grin. 

“Constance and I were just talking about the time she accidentally threw a cup of tea on me.” He said and that made Constance tense up slightly, and his mother laughed softly, finding it oddly amusing. The look on his face told her that he won this round, and she refused to hand over her defeat like that. Hapi and Balthus both hid small laughs behind their cups and the blonde froze in her spot, doing her best to think of a cover story. They all looked towards her, and then she laughed as if thinking of a silly story.

“He is correct, I came by the tea shop to congratulate him on an  _ excellent  _ interview he had done for the tea shop, and then we started talking, we started bantering. Then when I went to leave, I tripped and the cup flew out of my hand!” It might have seemed a bit over the top, and mentioning the interview she looked over to him and glared for a split second before smiling as she told the story. Luckily, his mother laughed along and seemed to enjoy the story herself. 

“That’s absolutely adorable, Constance.” His mother complimented and she smiled along, and for a moment, hearing what her name actually was threw him off. After the short while he’d known her, he never even bothered to actively find out what her name was, even though he was sure it’d be quite simple to figure out. Constance noticed the look on his face and tilted her head, wondering what he looked so confused about before she went back to talking with the silver haired woman. They talked back and forth until their food came out to them, and they all started to dig in. 

Hapi and Balthus got into their food pretty quickly, and Constance excitedly started to eat hers too, letting out a happy hum when she tasted the meal. It was absolutely delicious, but then again, anything that wasn’t prepared in under five minutes was going to be outstanding on her taste buds. They ate in silence for most of the meal, only really talking to make comments about how good the food was. It wasn’t long until they’d all finished eating, Constance deciding to take half of her plate home for leftovers. Though they were finished eating and Yuri was very much looking forward to going home. Calling over the waiter, he gave his card and then looked over to the others while he waited. 

Hapi and Balthus were talking, catching up with the other about their daily lives and such, and Constance was checking her phone quickly to see if she’d gotten any messages. Nothing from anyone important, she decided. 

“I’m very glad Yuri’s made some really nice friends, I only wish he’d told me about you and your friend sooner.” She smiled genuinely, and Constance felt a bit guilty. Though the guilt didn’t stick around too much longer before she decided to dig a bit further at him. 

“Oh, I am just as hurt as you are.” She said with a dramatic sigh, causing Yuri to roll his eyes and look back to the waiter who’d just come back with his card, and he got up. Taking the hint, Constance also got up, stretching her arms. “We all should be going though, tomorrow is another early day for everyone.” Hearing that, the woman also got up and smiled. 

“Yes, I’m terribly sorry for keeping you all.” She said before Yuri shook his head, waving off her comment. “I should be going as well, but it was a pleasure to get to meet you, Constance. And I’m glad to see you again Hapi.” With that, she gave her son a kiss on his cheek and thanked him for supper, promising to stop by again tomorrow, and to Yuri’s dismay, she gave both girls a hug and left. Balthus pouted, muttering something about how he didn’t get a goodbye. Once she was gone, Yuri let out a sigh, and looked at the two of them.

“That was a nightmare.” He said, causing Constance’s eye to twitch and she scoffed, crossing her arms. 

“Do not for a second think that it was any better for me to have to sit across from you for over an hour.” The two of them crossed their arms and turned away from the other dramatically, and Hapi only rolled her eyes, grabbing Coco’s parasol and patting Yuri on the back. 

“I think she means thanks for dinner, Yuribird. See you guys tomorrow.” She said before pulling her friend out of the restaurant, and shortly after Balthus and Yuri left. Though it was a bit awkward since they both were headed the same direction. 

~

Once Hapi and Constance returned home, the blonde put her leftovers in the fridge and then fell back on their couch, dramatically sighing while Hapi looked over to her and then shook her head slightly. 

“At least that wasn’t a complete mess.” Hapi said, going over to move her friend’s legs so she could sit down as well, and Constance nodded a little, adjusting how she was sitting to look at the other girl. It would have been easy for Hapi to say something to blow their cover in front, but she hadn’t. Constance was thankful for her friend’s support. “You know your fighting is dumb, right?” She said, looking at her friend in the corner of her eye, reaching for the television remote. Her comment made Constance pout like a child.

“Hapi, that is absolutely absurd. I am quite positive that I have told you the awful things he has said to me, and the way he talked to me in such a condescending tone, I have no choice but to defend myself!” She defended herself, and her friend could only roll her eyes and sigh. “What was I meant to do?” 

“I dunno.” Hapi answered, and Constance recognized the tone well. It was especially reserved for when Hapi was feeling either annoyed or frustrated with her, and it was a hard tone to accept. Instead, Constance moved and wrapped her arms around her friend, still pouting. “I’m not mad, Coco.” She assured her, patting her head with one hand and the other girl instead just pouted. It was a relief to hear that she wasn’t mad, but Hapi continued. “I’m a bit disappointed. You’ve always been tough with this kind of stuff.” Hearing that she was disappointed though made Constance sulk, but she knew she had to hear it. 

“I usually am! No one’s opinions matter to me, but when he managed to push back, I just…” It was a struggle to find the right words, and before Hapi could pipe in, Constance carried on. “I just cannot stand the way he looked down at me. He talks to me as if I was beneath him, and then spun my own words into ammunition. Just because he’s charming and has a pretty face, and the cologne he uses is really nice-” She had to cut herself off, realizing that she was getting off topic. Her cheeks turned pink when she realized what she said out loud, and then she continued on to pretend like she hadn’t said it at all. “-Just because he knows how people see him does not make it fair to be a… A jerk.” 

Hapi, not being very good with assessing other people’s feelings, she only patted her friend’s head again and awkwardly looked down at her. Constance did let out a sigh, and they both went on to watching a movie, deciding to end the conversation there. Though Hapi did let up on her scolding, then the two decided to enjoy the night before retiring to get some well needed sleep for the next day forward. 

~

“Yo, I’m going to crash at your place tonight.” Balthus told him as they entered the tea shop, and Yuri was pretty surprised at how clean it was. Because Balthus had been the one inside, he expected it to look like a mess, but he was rather glad to see Balthus took some initiative to keep it clean for the next day. Seeing the look on his face, Balthus let out a hearty laugh and wrapped an arm around him. “What? Don’t look so shocked, I can clean too.” The way he laughed made Yuri shake him off, but he grinned slightly anyways. 

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, it’s probably better if you stay here, I’ll need your help setting up tomorrow since it will just be you and I working.” His hired help couldn’t make it for tomorrow, so he knew that he was going to have to work twice as hard with manning the stations. Though he was losing out on his face painting. The two of them went up the stairs, and Yuri immediately noticed that something was on the larger man’s mind, and with an annoyed sigh, Yuri looked at him. “If you want to say something, just do it.” 

Hearing how forward he was, he laughed and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. “It’s nothing much, pal.” He started, and it only made Yuri urge him on any more. “But why didn’t you tell your mom? She would’a believed you if you told her that you actually don’t like the broad.” He made a good point. Though his mother appeared to be an innocent, sweet woman, she was actually quite perceptive. She most likely had an inkling that he didn’t actually get along with ‘Constance’, but instead took him on his word. Why did he lie about it? 

“I didn’t want to stir up any drama, that’s it. Besides, I was only playing along while I let her struggle to come up with lies.” Yuri shrugged, going to his fridge and grabbing Balthus a beer, then getting one for himself. Balthus went to the couch and stretched his legs along the length of it, and Yuri went to go sit on a chair. The two of them opened their drinks, then Balthus went on to turning to some trashy reality television show. It was their tradition for the summer sidewalk event, a cold beer, trash on the television and the two of them talking about what they could do better the next day. It was one of the downtime things that Yuri treasured with Balthus, even if he wouldn’t say it outright. They made sure to not stay up too late though. After they’ve gone to bed, they would get up and do everything all over again in the morning. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two of the event comes around, and Mercedes decides to play mediator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with updates! After taking a week off to digest some bad news (Things will be okay, don't worry!!) I've finally gotten back my motivation and I'm going to try and go back to a kind of routine! Thank you to my beta reader, who has been more than patient and helpful with everything, and thank you to you guys for reading <3

The next day started terribly. The skies were completely grey and overcast along with a very high chance of rain. Despite the weather forecasts, the event would go on. Many of the investors had put too much money in it to shut everything down, so it was unanimously decided to carry on. It’d be an insult to everyone who’s put so much work into making the event happen. The coordinators did their best to ease worries by offering umbrellas and plastic sheets to cover any valuables. Though despite the added protection, many people decided to return back inside their shops.

Yuri and Balthus decided they should keep their tent outside until a storm would hit, Constance and Hapi decided it was best to move their set up inside since there was no need to advertise to an empty crowd.

Yuri and Balthus were outside enjoying the calm before the storm, enjoying some sweets they had gotten from their baker friend. Eventually after moving her things inside the bakery, she decided to join the pair of them for a break. The three of them talked among themselves about miscellaneous topics; like how they hoped the day would go, or what happened the day before, to even what was on television the night before. They snacked on cookies that Mercedes knew wouldn’t sell well. Some had the icing melted and the design distorted, some cookies were broken, overall any cookie with a flaw. Mercedes looked absolutely adorable in her over sized beige sweater that had been hand-knit, Yuri noted out loud to her, which earned an amused giggle from the blonde with a soft blush on her cheeks, which in turn made Balthus eager to compliment her as well. Finding the two of them sweet, pun intended, she gladly thanked them and they carried on with their break.

From where he sat, Yuri could feel eyes on him, and he knew who it was instantly. He was going to retaliate to the blonde, and then he thought what Balthus asked him the night before. Why he didn’t tell his mom he actually didn’t get along with Constance and why he constantly was changing his answer why. It caught him off guard when Balthus of all people questioned his methods when going about something. Balthus always went along with whatever he did with little to no questions, so why now? Perhaps he needed to evaluate his methods a bit closer.

"Dear?" He could hear Mercedes' voice call out to him and he turned to her, causing her to give off another signature giggle. "You were staring off into space, is there something on your mind?" 

Curse this woman and her strong intuition. She was always able to look through him, almost as if she could read his mind. Some days it was tiring when someone always could tell what you're thinking, but in some cases, it was helpful. 

"Mercedes, have you ever actively disliked anyone without a good reason?" The question made Mercedes tilt her head curiously, like an animal listening to human words. Looking over to her in the corner of his eye, he grinned. "Have you ever disliked anyone in general?"

"Oh, of course I have." The older woman grinned at his question, doing her best to think back. In Yuri's eyes, it seemed to take her a while to come up with a proper answer to even disliking someone. "I suppose there was one gentleman I found myself not very fond of." What confused Yuri is that there was no frown or disdain in her voice when she talked about them. If she hadn't said so, he would have assumed she was talking about a stranger passing by. It threw him off when she looked across the street to wave at Shadylady before going back to the conversation without skipping a beat.

"Just one?" Yuri asked, then laughing a little too loud for her liking, causing her cheeks to turn pink when she noticed some people were looking over to her. "For you of all people to dislike someone, he must have crushed a puppy under his heel right in front of you! What could someone do to ever get a sweet angel like you to dislike them?" 

Hearing his reaction earned her to give a sweet laugh in response, gently pushing his shoulder at the praise he gave her. Balthus also seemed invested in the story, wondering how some loser managed to anger the sweetest lady he knew. 

"Yeah pal, I don't know how you manage to get on the bad side of you. Surely they must have been a real piece of work." Balthus chimed in, though to their surprise, Mercedes only shook her head to their comments.

"Nothing of the sort. He was just… Confused with what he wanted in life and at first he was tiring to be around. At some point I had even told him to his face that I was irritated with the sight of him." She explained, smiling softly at the memory. Her reaction was just as confusing as the thought of Mercedes telling someone she was irritated with the sight of them was unreal. Even when customers would be yelling in her face at the bakery, Yuri never once saw her falter in their presence. "Oh dear! But this isn't about me! You were asking for advice and now I'm afraid I have to get going. We should continue our conversation perhaps later tonight? Are you going to be able to make it?" 

Oh, right. Mercedes and a few other of the store owners were hosting a small party, as they did every year. Even when things tend to get a bit competitive when you are all competing for customer attention, they've decided it would be best to maybe host a party where everyone can unwind after the long weekend of stress. Which meant everyone was invited. 

"Oh we'll be there, pal. We always go!" Balthus answered for them, and Yuri didn't miss the grin the larger man flashed to him. With a nod, Yuri silently agreed, not wanting to turn down the offer. Regardless of anything, he knew it was beginning to get stupid to hide away from gettogethers like these, especially when typically he rather enjoyed going out. Once Mercedes heard that they were going to be able to make it, it only made her smile widen and she made her way back to her tent, leaving the two of them to go back to preparing for the rest of the day and think about the get together. Once she left, he decided to take one step towards not letting anyone bother him and sent Hapi a quick text, asking about her plans and if she would be attending.

~

From across the street, Constance was finally able to go outside without her sunglasses. Since the sun hadn’t been out and there were no signs of it poking through any time soon, she decided that it would be safe for her to be without her safety net. Besides, it wasn’t as if she didn’t have them in her bag beside her. Getting all of her things together, she was doing her best to pack up quickly so she wouldn’t need to sit outside in the cold. As she cleaned up and dismantled her tent, she found herself distracted by the sight of her childhood friend talking to Yuri, and part of her wished that she could simply head over and interrupt. It should be her over there enjoying tea and sweets, but Mercedes was a big girl who was able to make her own friends. It would have been awfully selfish of her to intrude like that.

Especially when she went over what Hapi told her the night before, and she realized that acting like a child was simply beneath her. Acting like some flustered high schooler who had a terrible taste in men was definitely not her style, especially since she didn’t have a taste in anyone. She thought of herself as tasteless. Her and Hapi had that common ground, not letting any petty emotions interfere with their business. For a moment, Constance was beginning to understand why Hapi was so frustrated over her actions, and she planned on making it up to her. Instead of worrying about what other people thought of them or their business, they needed to bunker down and do what she could to improve. A new resolve hit her and she was more dedicated to work even harder today, even with the less than ideal weather. 

As her mind wandered, as it often did when it came to Yuri, Mercedes must have noticed her distant look in their direction. Mercedes simply waved with a smile, causing Constance to return the smile with a small wave, already putting her resolve to the test and not paying any attention to Yuri. Perhaps if she ignored him, things might settle down? It sounded like a solid plan in her opinion. 

Once Mercedes went back to talking to the group, Constance found herself looking back into the building where Hapi was working on a shoe rack. Hapi might have been the messiest person she has ever met, but Hapi was adamant about dirty shoes not being in the building. That was most likely so they wouldn’t have to mop the floor at the end of the night. The thought made Constance smile to her friend, who in return nodded in greeting with a slight grin before going back to setting up the simple contraption.

As Hapi worked on her shoe rack, she looked to Constance who looked as if she was finally not as stressed out as she was for the last few weeks. Of course scolding her friend was never anything she wanted to do, but when it came to Coco and whatever is bothering her, it could take years for her to settle a dispute. Not that Hapi was necessarily asking them to be best friends, partially because Constance already had a best friend, but seeing her two friends fight was a bother. Maybe things would finally start to settle down.

“Hapi, do we have plans tonight?” Constance called to her, and Hapi’s attention focused back to her, tilting her head slightly in curiosity. With a small shake of her head, Constance continued. “Well we actually do! Mercedes texted me last night to let me know that here’s going to be a small party that everyone goes to after today and she would like us to come along!” 

Typical Coco, always finding an excuse to get out of the house and do something, Hapi thought to herself as she let out a sigh. 

“Alright, sounds good.” Even with her simple sentence, seeing the other smile was refreshing to see after how annoyed she always seemed to look. Curiously she happened to look over to Yuribird, who seemed to be not paying any attention to the blonde who was directly across the street. Good, maybe then things would finally calm down. Not to mention Balthus would owe her a drink if that was the case. After the disaster that was the dinner, they’d texted through the night and eventually made a bet that things would get worse. Then again, making any bet with Balthus was going to guarantee you a win since he always made the worst bets. 

~

Enbarr was pretty dead for the first half of the day, since the sky was clouded over with no sign of clearing up, most people had decided against going out. Of course some people managed to stop by and do their walking around, but once it started raining, it was game over.

As the rain fell, it felt as if the entire street had cooled down, a contrast from the intense heat from the day before. The rain started as extremely light, but slowly and gradually was getting heavier with every minute that passed. Just being outside made Constance shiver, the chill from the rain made her regret wearing summer wear. Like the amazing friend she was, Hapi came outside wearing her favourite olive green sweater and sweatpants, bringing Constance a cardigan from their apartment to keep her warm. 

For the first while, everyone stayed in their small areas, whether inside their buildings or outside in their tents. Those outside in the tents were frantically making sure that their products wouldn’t get wet, like the couple of jewelry makers with vibrant blue and pink hair who were scrambling to cover their displays. Yuri calmly moved his tables more under his tent while Constance seemed fine without having to move anything but decided to eventually move inside instead of risking getting sick. Though it quickly got boring when no one was stopping by anymore in the rain, then everyone started going to the other people’s tents and buildings to either talk to even pick up some sidewalk event exclusive things. 

Sitting at one of the tables, Hapi and Constance were playing cards as the loud music played in the building, and it was both calming and unnerving to be the only ones in the venue. For the first time that when they were open, no one was in there with them. Constance didn't seem to like the feeling of solitude while Hapi was perfectly fine with it, but it didn’t take long for a few different people to stop by and want to get something from their mocktail menu. Whether it was out of pity of seeing the two girls play cards in an empty building, or they’d heard good things was unclear, but any sort of business was good business, Constance always said. 

The music wasn’t very loud today, and there wasn’t a whole lot of motivation behind keeping everything immaculate, but they seemed to do well, receiving compliments from the few people who were seeking refuge from the heavy rain. Since a few people didn’t want to go back out into the rain, Hapi went to her little corner where she had her video games set up, a few people joined her to simply unwind. Constance was always awful at video games, so after double checking with Hapi, she decided to go out and stop by to see where else she could go to stop her boredom.

~

Naturally, her first stop was Mercedes’ bakery where she saw the blonde woman, working like hell to make sure everything was going to be displayed properly, making signs, all while she held a broom in her hands. She was moving around like a madman. Constance had no doubts that she was also stressed about planning for the party. 

Going to the counter, Mercedes froze and welcomed her in, encouraging her to sit down and make herself comfortable, offering her some treats as well which Constance politely declined. 

“Mercedes, you look exhausted.” Constance pointed out, and Mercedes being the way she was, quickly shook her head smiling as if to convince her that she was okay. Not buying it, Constance searched through her purse and pulled out a single hairband, tying her long hair into a ponytail and motioning for Mercedes to let her help with something. 

“Connie, I have it all under control, Annie should be returning from her break anytime now.” She did her best to talk Constance out of helping, but instead of leaving her to work all alone, she kept asking to help and finally broke her down, Mercedes handed the broom over to Constance who began to sweep without a second thought and earned a heartfelt thank you from Mercedes. 

After helping her friend get her store a bit more organized and tidied up, Mercedes sat her down and brought out a small platter of treats. 

“I’m awfully sorry that I don’t have any tea to offer.” Mercedes said before taking a bite out of a cookie. “Though if you’d like, I can ask Yuri to bring some over?” The offer seemed genuine and sweet, but Constance scoffed, shaking her head at the suggestion. It made Mercedes tilt her head with curiosity, then it was as if a lightbulb flicked on in her mind, and she started to smile as if she knew something Constance didn’t. 

“Oh no, I recognize that look of yours. What’s crossed your mind?” Constance squinted her eyes, and Mercedes only hummed in response, though still rather entertained by something.

“I was just thinking, that’s all Connie.” It was a feeble effort, but Constance didn’t back down. Her reaction was too good to not savour, so she caved in. “So you’ve become quite popular here, haven’t you?” It was a vague statement, but Constance laughed obnoxiously in response. 

“I surely hope so! I’ve been working so incredibly hard to ensure that I’ve created a fun place for anyone to attend. It’s only natural that people would be talking about the new and shiny thing in their community.” Her voice was confident and full of pride, and Mercedes listened curiously. 

“That being said, you truly don’t get along with Yuri, why is that?” In a flash, Constance’s ego deflated and instead let out a long sigh, not wanting to even talk about him.

“Mercedes.” She whined, and Mercedes only laughed and waved her hands, insisting that they didn’t have to talk about them. But not wanting to run away from the conversation, Constance continued on. “We simply do not get along. He’s disliked me since I’ve first arrived, and only continues to push my buttons. It’s as if he doesn’t respect me at all.” It was always tiring explaining herself why she did not care for the purple haired man, but Mercedes always found a way to look through her. Mercedes was silent for a second, thinking before she piped up again.

“Perhaps he thinks the same as you.” She threw out there, and Constance scoffed, waving her off before she began to think for herself.

“Did Yuri happen to say anything about me?” She asked, and Mercedes shook her head, but was still smiling.

“Not exactly, but I’m beginning to think that perhaps you two are simply a little confused, that’s all.” 

Before Constance could interrogate what Mercedes meant by her oddly ominous way of putting things, she was getting a call and quickly moved to answer, squinting her eyes at Mercedes who feigned innocence. 

Hapi was calling her, so she answered as fast as she could. 

“Yo, Coco, can you go pick us up some drinks for tonight? Balthus gave me twenty bucks so we could grab something for him and Yuribird. Cool, thanks. I’ll send you the money.” Before Constance could even debate and turn down the request, Hapi hung up and without skipping a beat, sent her some money. Putting her phone away, Constance decided it was best to not argue or turn down Hapi’s request since she was supposed to be making it up to her. 

“I have to go do some shopping for tonight, but I’ll see you later tonight?” Constance said to Mercedes, even though it sounded like more of a question. With a nod, Mercedes got up as well and took her broom so she could get back to work. With a goodbye, Constance left the bakery, leaving the older blonde to simply smile to herself, humming along to the radio as she went back to tidying up. 

~

By the time Constance returned from her little shopping excursion, it was the early hours of the evening and just finally the rain had gone away and the sky was starting to clear up, which meant people would give her odd looks when she was still walking around with an umbrella, even when the rain stopped. Parking behind her building, she went in through the back exit to find Hapi lounging on one of the couches, and the place empty. She assumed Hapi closed up early since the part was going to take place in a few hours. 

“Oh sweet, you’re back.” Hapi acknowledged, putting her phone down before she sat up. Constance went over and gave her the bag of drinks. With a thank you, Constance smiled at her before announcing that she was going to go upstairs to begin getting ready.

During her time out, Mercedes texted her the address of where the party was going to be, so all they had to do was wait for the time to come. It was going to be a long night, but she was determined to at least make it as worthwhile as she could. Since there was still a few hours, she laid down on her bed and decided to set an alarm and take a nap, waiting for the time to come. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the hatchet gets buried, sort of.

Standing in front of a lovely home, Hapi and Constance were checking to make sure they had everything that was asked of them. Because they were the only place that served alcohol on Enbarr, it only made sense for them to be the ones to pitch in and bring some alcohol. Constance held her bag of a bottle of wine for her friend while Hapi held her bags of drinks that would be for everyone to enjoy. Vodka, spiced rum, even some coolers for anyone that still wanted something with less alcohol content. The two of them had gotten changed out of their outfits from earlier in the day and changed to something more appropriate. They settled on the same clothes they wore on their opening night, as a call back to the first time they were part of the community. 

Because of Hapi, they ended up being an hour late, partially because Hapi’s nap lasted too long, and they ended up lost on their way. Finally though, they were at the front door of Mercedes’ home, and from the outside Constance could hear the music playing. It brought her back to her high school days, was her first thought. 

She remembered a situation almost exactly like this, Hapi and Constance showing up to a party, though back then Constance had thick glasses with extremely short hair except for her bangs and Hapi wore braces and had terrible acne, and they were pretty sure they were only invited as a joke. Though what made this time different was that they were older, matured, looked better than they did back then and they were not going to turn back and go home to watch movies and eat pizza all night. 

“Hey, you gonna knock or what?” Hapi asked, and Constance nodded with an enthusiastic grin. As she knocked on the door, almost immediately she was greeted by Mercedes, who smiled as soon as she saw them. 

“Thank you for coming! Please feel free to leave your jackets anywhere, and drinks are free to go on the table.” Mercedes pointed out, and immediately she called out to some people. The entire atmosphere was loud, and felt like a scene taken directly from a movie. The entire entrance hall filled with familiar faces she’d seen around, red cups in their hands as they talked and mingled, some people were dancing, not to mention there was also the wallflowers who pretended to be too cool to engage with everyone else. It looked like a lot of fun, Constance noted. Immediately she lost track of Hapi who was gone into the crowd, and Mercedes also seemed to disappear as well, leaving to go drop off the drinks and go make some friends on her own. 

~

Yuri and Balthus were some of the first people to show up when the party started. They had brought Mercedes a small token of their appreciation which was yet another tin of all her favorite teas, as well as their first official gift certificate for the shop. It was a big deal that they were able to set up a system to use gift certificates, and there was no one better to have the first one than Mercedes, especially for everything she’d done for them. 

When they presented the gifts to her, she hugged the two of them and thanked them for the sweet gift, going to put them away in her room where no one would grab them. After seeing her great response to their gift, they high fived and then waited for her to return. Because they were “early” they offered to help her set up last minute ideas, like the speakers for the music needed to be moved, the drink table needed to move into the kitchen, small things like that. They had no arguments in helping her, which earned them a promise of freshly baked sweets the next day. Since it was tradition for most stores to take the Monday off after such a busy weekend and use the time to recoup or relax, they gladly accepted her offer. It was a stressful event after all, but there was no need burning out over it, especially not when the profits were typically grand. Even though the weather was garbage for the entire day, the profits from the day before allowed Yuri to confidently say they could take the day off. 

Fast forward an hour and the party was completely in swing, while Yuri was in the crowd mingling with the crowd, Balthus was challenging the other biggest guys to a drinking contest outside in the backyard. Yuri found himself talking to an old friend who he’d known for quite some time. Dorothea Arnault. Even though she wasn’t a shop owner on Enbarr, she was good friends with nearly everyone at the party. She was famous, beautiful, and knew how to get what she wanted. Yuri and her got along quite well on those grounds. The two of them along with a group of her friends sat on the sofa, exchanging stories and talking about what had been happening in their lives. He didn’t know most of the people in her group, except his reporter friend Bernadetta, who looked incredibly uncomfortable being there. 

Bernadetta was the one to write that article about him, the one that truly sparked his petty feud with Shadylady. Aside from her though, everyone else was nearly strangers, yet he talked to them as if they were all old friends. Part of being Dorothea’s friend was being introduced to interesting people. One of them was a famous fighter, the other was a medic, a politician’s son, the daughter of a foreign politician. Though names weren’t his strong suit, they all stood out quite obviously. However the most important out of them was Edelgard Hresvelg. She was a rather important figure, in politics, in the business world, the media. She was a household name known for her typically cold demeanor but grand acts of charity. Being the daughter of a rather important politician and his wife who happened to be the CEO to one of the largest companies known across the world, which also makes her the soon-to-be heiress of the company alongside her step-brother Dimitri. She was a lot more timid than Yuri would have expected, part of him wondered how Dorothea and her became such good friends. Yuri managed to break the ice and casually introduce himself, glad to hear that Dorothea has mentioned him in good light. Perhaps one of these times he could cut a business deal with the Princess herself.

As they talked, he heard Dorothea say something and look over to the entrance to the house, and there was the Shadylady herself, looking alone, but with a smile on her face, swaying to the music as she sipped out of her cup. Part of him was confused, not aware that Dorothea was friends with her, but he figured he should have known. That woman was infamous for finding a way into all of his friend groups, one way or another. When she pointed out Constance, Dorothea grinned at Yuri, but also nudged the ginger man who was beside him. The politician’s son, Fer-something. After they were saying something he didn’t quite catch, suddenly the guy beside him got up and went to approach the blonde. Curiously, Yuri decided to watch what was going to happen. 

~

Being alone at a party was no stranger to Constance, and she was simply taking a break from interacting with people. The music was loud and the place was warm, but something about seeing everyone enjoying themselves made it worth it. It reminded her of her nightclub, kind of. As she scanned the crowd, she could see Hapi in the distance, leaning against the wall as she already had a drink in her hand as she was talking to a silver haired boy. It was more accurate to say it was him doing his best to talk to Hapi while she responded the way she always did, which made the boy awkward. Even from a distance, she could see Hapi was relaxed and enjoying herself. It was always a good thing to see her best friend having a good time.

As she was staring off into the distance, Constance didn't notice someone walk up to her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard them clear their throat. Quickly she looked over to see Ferdinand von Aegir and immediately her face fell. Great. He was smiling down to her, clearly unaware of her scowl at the sight of him. 

Ferdinand and Constance were childhood friends, their parents were quite close. From toddlers and on they were inseparable and were the best of friends. Until the rest of her family passed away in a car accident and things spiraled out of control for Constance. While she was dealing with her immense loss and grieving, he suddenly wasn't around as much. When she would reach out, his father would tell her that Ferdinand was too busy or wasn't interested in being around her. They went to the same high school, and while he was popular and well respected in the school, Constance was considered a loser at the bottom of the food chain. 

When Constance looked up to him now, she could still remember the awkward and pained look on his face when they would pass by each other in the hallway. Peer pressure naturally got to him as well, and he never once reached out to her and let her be bullied by those around him. Now he had the audacity to approach her now that she was successful? 

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Ferdinand spoke, brushing his long red hair back as he smiled down to Constance, and she could only glare and sip her drink. Her stance changed, now her posture was completely straight, arms crossed and no longer was she swaying along to the music. 

"Yep. Quite a while." When Constance was angry, she learned quite a lot from her best friend. Short sentences, glares, refusal to acknowledge feelings, the works. Her response seemed to make him sweat and he let out an awkward laugh, sipping his drink to try and figure out what to say next. The two of them stood there, with Constance getting more and more annoyed and Ferdinand doing his best to figure out what to say.

~

Yuri watched as the man approached Shadylady, and the one thing he didn't expect was the complete change in demeanor. Even around him she never looked as angry as she did there. Even when she threw her drink at him, she never reached these levels of frustration. He wasn't even sure what this man had done wrong, but clearly it was bad. Curiously, he looked to the rest of the group and saw a few people also looking over. Between them, he watched as the blue haired boy handed Dorothea twenty bucks while she had a satisfied look on her face, earning a sigh from Edelgard.

"Dorothea, that is just cruel." The silver haired Princess told her, and Dorothea just looked rather smug. So she intended on something like this happening.

"He was the one that said he wanted to talk to her, I just let him know she was here. Besides, consider it payback for what he said to me when we showed up here!" She defended herself, earning another long sigh from Edelgard who didn't argue against it.

From Yuri's perspective, Ferdinand sounded like a guy who meant well but obviously had a hard time communicating that. Poor sucker. Taking a look back to Constance, he figured that it was time to save both of them from their situation. He excused himself from the group and went over to Constance.

~

If she was alone with him for more than another minute, Constance swore she was going to explode. Being around him nearly ruined her night and suddenly she just wanted to go home. Perhaps having pizza with Hapi didn't sound so bad; But when she looked over to Hapi, she was actually smiling and laughing as she was still talking to the boy from before. The last thing she wanted was to ruin the night for Hapi as well. 

If things couldn't get worse for her, she watched as Yuri made his way over with a satisfied grin, making eye contact with her.  _ Oh no. _ He winked to her and then walked up to her, causing her to wish she was anywhere but there. Luckily for her, he was fully intending on helping her out.

"Hey, did you want to dance?" Yuri asked her, looking up to Ferdinand who stood there awkwardly. Constance wasn't sure what his plan was. But out of the two evils, she had to go with the petty rivalry other than traumatic memories. 

“Oh, we were talk-”

“I’d love to.” Constance interrupted Ferdinand and then took Yuri’s hand as he smirked to Ferdinand before gently pulling her away. Completely shocked at the situation, Ferdinand called out to her that he would catch her later, and Constance pretended she didn't hear it. 

Following Yuri's lead, it didn’t take much to see the relief on her face as she seemed to forget who’s hand she was holding. He ended up bringing her by one of the tables and then he let go of her hand, giving her a look that expected a thank you and made her annoyed for just a split second before she let it slide. Maybe this was her chance to show Hapi she was actually trying to not be a miserable person over this. Curiously, she looked over to where she’d last seen Hapi, and much to her surprise, she was looking over at her and Yuri. Turning back to the man that saved her from losing her cool, she crossed her arms.

“Thank you, I suppose. If I was left on my own any further, I most likely would have snapped.” She thanked him, and hearing her be so nice to him only made him want to push her buttons more, but when the thought occurred, he was surprised by the lack of malicious intent. Usually when he planned on annoying her it was to belittle or get a reaction, however this was a bit more friendly. Perhaps it was because he knew eyes were on him. 

“Don’t mention it. Besides, I knew I had to save the poor guy before you threw your drink at him. I just assume that’s how you deal with men when they annoy you.” Saying that, a blush fell on Constance’s cheeks and she scoffed, taking a sip out of her cup to hide her embarrassment. Instead of responding, she shook her head. It only pushed him further. “Aw Shadylady, that makes me feel special.” He said in a singsong tone while Constance let out a laugh before covering her mouth, surprised at the outburst before quickly going back to being only slightly amused with him. Her reaction earned a laugh from him as well, making him even more amused with her. “So you do laugh instead of scowling all the time.” He poked her shoulder and she brushed him off.

“Of course I do, all it takes is for the person I am talking to to not be a complete imbecile.” She fired back at him, and dramatically he held his chest with an over the top expression before the two of them grinned and then turned away from the other. Constance took another sip of her drink and Yuri cleared his throat as the two of them began to wonder what was the matter with themselves for being so… Casual with the other. Yuri grabbed a bottle of beer off the table and opened it, immediately taking a drink from it as he did his best to avoid the awkward silence that fell over the two of them. Why did he feel so obligated to be by her? It wasn’t as if he needed to or it was expected of him to still be there with her, yet he seemed to be comfortable right where he was. The more Constance sipped on her drink, the less hesitant she was about talking to him. 

As a new song started, Yuri figured that it was enough of them being awkward, especially since they both seemed to be walking on eggshells, with their rivalry and everything. 

“I’m going to get back to my friend group now.” Yuri said as he looked over to her and Constance nodded at him, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. 

“Oh, yes, I apologize for holding you here. Enjoy the rest of the party.” Constance told him with a small smile and Yuri froze for a moment seeing it.  Yuri wasn't sure if the alcohol was clouding his better judgment, but he couldn’t help but think that the smile on her face was absolutely mesmerizing and he wanted to see it more. Definitely the alcohol. With a nod, he made his way somewhere else in the party, disappearing into the crowd.

As she watched him leave, Constance couldn’t help but let out a small laugh in disbelief, before heading over to Hapi who was now talking to Mercedes and a small group of people along with her. Constance quickly made her way over, knowing Hapi hated talking to a large group of people of people she didn’t know, but the closer she got, the more Constance saw Hapi was actually pretty relaxed and calm talking to everyone and she felt a pang of jealousy. It was petty, but Constance always knew that Hapi hated talking to people, so when Hapi looked so comfortable and confident, it was unusual. When Hapi saw her coming over, she waved her over to join the group, Mercedes also inviting her over. 

“Hey Coco, come meet these guys.” She said and Constance walked over to take her place beside her friend, smiling at them as Mercedes went to her other side and wrapped an arm around her. Constance could tell she was tipsy by how giggling and happy she was to see her. “These are some of Mermer’s friends, they’re interested in knowing more ‘bout our brand.” She explained as Constance’s face lit up hearing it. Naturally, she was able to recognize any of the nicknames Hapi gave out to people. If you received one, it's like a term of endearment.

When Constance took a closer look at them, she immediately recognized two of them. They were there the opening night of their nightclub in the VIP section. The most notable was the tall blond who towered over the two of them. When he looked down to them, it was almost intimidating. Then there was the black haired boy who even now had a scowl, acting as if he was too cool to be engaging in small talk. Clearly he was the fun one of the group. 

“This is Didi, he’s pretty famous, y’know. We follow each other, yeah?” Hapi said all too casually, and the blond man straightened up slightly, as if he needed to be any taller, and held out his hand to Constance, nodding to Hapi. 

“Dimitri Blaiddyd, I was there on your opening night. I’m afraid I was terribly rude and didn’t thank you for the fantastic service.” He spoke so formally, and Constance gladly shook his hand, her ego inflating only slightly to receive such praise. Of course she knew who Dimitri was. The son of an extremely well known chairman for one of the biggest businesses Fódlan had ever seen. He was an athlete all throughout his education and an incredibly well known one at that until he had an unfortunate accident and instead moved into a life where he would be conditioned to take over the company alongside his step-sister. It was all over the tabloids about the step-siblings of Fódlan. 

“Constance Nuvelle, co-owner of House Nuvelle. Charmed, I’m sure.” She grinned at him and it earned a surprised look from him, then he let out a soft laugh. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, it means a lot to know you speak so highly of our establishment.” She was beaming as she spoke, and Dimitri seemed rather amused by her confidence and word choice. For as weird as she sounded, he seemed to be buying into it. Hapi nudged her with her elbow and Constance pouted over to her. 

“As I was talking to Hapi about, I was hoping to eventually maybe look into investing into your business to help things grow, but maybe it’s better suited for a more… Professional setting. Hapi has my number when you guys would like to set up a meeting.” And with that, they started to walk off and head outside to the bonfire someone had started. Mercedes left with them with an excited smile when she looked back to them before walking off. Constance grinned to Hapi who seemed satisfied with that meeting. Though when she tried to question why he happened to have Hapi’s number and she was deflecting her questions. 

“What did he mean that you already had his number, huh?” Constance prodded at her best friend in an interrogation-esque way and Hapi would only sip her drink in response, then deflect the conversation to something else. No matter how many times she asked, Hapi refused to answer and Constance eventually let it go, especially when they found themselves being called over to a few more groups to talk and mingle with.

~

After Yuri left Constance, he felt oddly conflicted about what had just happened. Talking and laughing with her, teasing her without looking for a reaction. Not to mention she wasn’t as apprehensive towards him as she usually was. If Hapi said something, that would explain why she seemed to be holding her tongue at first, but at some point when they talked, Shadylady stopped looking over to their mutual friend and only paid him attention. Was he looking into it too much? Taking another drink of his beer, he nodded to himself. It's obviously just because he was drinking that he was giving her this much thought. He decided that he needed some air and walked outside to sit down in one of the lawn chairs that were placed throughout the backyard. 

For a moment it was quiet, at least as quiet as a house party could be. People were having fun by the fire and causing a scene as a drunken fist fight broke out, and Yuri didn't seem as interested as he thought he would be. With a large swig, he finished his bottle and rested it beside him, and from behind him, he could hear a giggle and he turned to see his favorite brunette and waved her over to join him. Dorothea gladly joined him and took the chair beside his and finished her drink as well.

"Enjoying yourself? I thought you would be more sociable than you are right now. Or are you only sociable with cute blondes?" Hearing her tease him, her words starting to slur together let him know that she was drunk, or at least tipsy. However, her attempt at poking fun at him was feeble and he refused to give her any sort of reaction she was hoping for, whatever that might be. 

"If you consider loud, obnoxious, spoiled, egotistical, annoying and a pain in my ass  _ cute. _ " Yuri said with a scoff, and for a moment Dorothea went quiet as she thought, and he just assumed she was going to leave it at that, plain and simple.

  
"Well…  _ Do you? _ "


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t as if he didn’t like Constance, it was more that they met on the wrong foot and then continued to take every step with that same wrong foot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 100% dedicated to my amazing beta reader, Ilysm ;w;  
> Also! This is hands down my favorite chapter I've written, so I hope you love it as much as I do!

Never has Yuri ever genuinely done a spit take, yet when Dorothea asked such a question, the absurdity of it caused him to choke on his drink. Maybe it was time for him to put down the drink and assess what it was that she had just told him. The brunette couldn't help but laugh at his reaction and she was clearly very pleased with herself. She didn't expect him to react in such a big way, it was quite telling if she was honest.

"And here I thought you were simply going to brush it off and act suave, but clearly it hit a nerve!" Dorothea continued to find amusement in the fact she got the  _ exact  _ reaction she wanted from him. Yuri wiped his face with his arm, his face bright red in embarrassment at the fact he had just spit his drink, and the… Shocking realization about himself. 

No, it wasn't a realization, the rational part of his mind tried to argue with himself. He was drinking, she was drinking, the music was loud and they were alone together without annoying the hell out of the other. Not to mention he also really liked her makeup and... had she styled her hair differently? It looked nice and he wanted to tell her at some point. That was it, that was all there was to it. Yuri was in deep denial, confident that he wasn't going to get feelings for someone like her, someone that had done their hardest to make his life excruciatingly annoying for the past few months. He knew that he needed to put the bottle down, realizing that he had too much to drink at this point. 

"You're looking too much into it, ladybird." Yuri defended himself, and it was clear that Dorothea wasn't buying it. Normally Yuri was very good at lying and disguising his feelings, but now that his inhibitions were lowered, it was a bit harder to mask them. 

After his interesting conversation with Dorothea, Yuri ended up staying for another hour or so, until he noticed that it was beginning to get late and suddenly he felt exhausted. Perhaps it was his social battery running out, or the amount of work he’s put into the shop for the past few days, but he decided that it was probably time for him to get home. 

Initially, Yuri was going to go get Balthus and offer to let him crash at his place for the night, but judging by his entourage, Balthus was going to be fine for the night. That didn’t stop him from letting Balthus know he was heading out, which made Balthus loudly say bye to him before going back to his business. That business was arm wrestling various other drunk people, but business all the same. As Yuri was heading out, he managed to catch Mercedes who hugged him and thanked him for coming to the party.

It didn’t take him very long to order a ride home, and just before he was getting into the car, he could hear someone call out to him, which made him look behind him to see who needed his attention. He saw Constance heading over to him and he asked the driver to wait just a second. Heading over to him, the blonde seemed out of breath as she approached him, placing a hand on the car as she caught her breath and Yuri simply looked at her, wondering what it was that she would want. 

“I apologize for catching you off guard,” she said, standing up straight, fixing her hair with a smile. “It’s just that my phone has gone missing and I can’t find Hapi, so I was wondering if I could catch a ride?” Constance half expected the man to turn her down. She was fully prepared to make her way home on her own, yet she was pleasantly surprised when he shrugged and motioned for her to take a seat. Now that he had actually granted her request, she somewhat felt bad, but nonetheless wasted no time getting in. Yuri entered after her.

The drive, although short, was awkward all the same. Neither of them said a single word throughout it. When the driver attempted small talk between them, he quickly read the mood, and instead turned up the music. Yuri and Constance kept their gazes away from one another and looked outside their windows.

As Constance watched the buildings go by, she recalled Ferdinand catching her off guard while she was still at the party. 

~

Just after the group split off and Hapi went off somewhere on her own, once again, Constance decided that perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea to be one of the people against the wall, watching people have fun. For an owner of a nightclub and the sociable one at that, she wasn’t quite feeling like getting into a new group and part of her was tempted to head home. When she went to reach for her phone, she realized that it wasn’t in her pocket and part of her panicked, only to remember that she had left her phone at home to charge, mainly because she expected to spend most of the night around Hapi, who  _ did _ bring her phone.. She felt like an idiot, but it was a bit too late to curse herself for it now. 

While she was distracted, she didn’t notice that Ferdinand had moved beside her and leaned against the wall, clearly working up the courage to talk to her. When she finally noticed, it caused her to jolt slightly, not expecting to see him there and quickly he started apologizing for catching her off guard.

“I’m truly sorry Constance.” He said, and she began to catch her breath, shaking her head. 

“You’re fine, I just didn’t see you there,” she said, before looking back into the crowd while giving him the cold shoulder. Seeing her upset with him made Ferdinand frown

“I’m sorry if I’ve done something to offend you, it’s just been a while and I wanted to catch up.” His words carried a clear voice of dismay. Constance looked up to see his dejected frown. The way he looked like a puppy who she had neglected only served to agitate her further, and Ferdinand quickly saw that was the wrong thing to say. “What I mean is that I’ve been wanting to ask you to coffee, but I know that you’re with someone else,” he said with a sigh. But the confused expression on her face immediately confused him as well.

“I’m not seeing anyone, no. I’m not sure where you’ve gotten that idea either.” she said, and all he did in response was laugh, only to see that she wasn’t laughing as well.

“Oh- I just figured since you were talking to that guy, you two seemed to be really flirting with each other, I just assumed-” The more he said, the more Constance was getting flustered.

Her and Yuri?  **Flirting?!** Clearly someone was reading the wrong messages she was giving out. The day she would flirt with him would be well after the sun exploded! She told herself that anyways. They were just simply on neutral territory, and… and, well, nothing! They were simply just treating each other with some sort of decency for once! As if she would ever flirt with such a troublesome man. Constance was never one for flirting in the first place. Sure he made her laugh (only once, if she might add!) and they actually went back and forth quite easily, but that was anything but over the line of friendly. 

Constance noticed that it was beginning to get late, and without her phone, she didn’t have a way to call a ride home. Ferdinand offered to call her a cab, but when she saw Yuri leaving, she figured it would be easier to try and catch a ride with him, her tipsy mind decided. Without thinking about it, she said bye to Ferdiand and went after the purple haired man leaving. 

~

Once the driver pulled in front of Yuri’s tea shop, the two of them got out and thanked the driver, and that should have been the point where they went their separate ways. 

“Thank you for letting me carpool with you, I will get you half of the fare once I get back home, if you would prefer.” Constance offered and Yuri only shook his head, knowing that it wouldn’t be right to go after her for half of the twenty dollar charge and he could easily cover it. To him, it wasn’t a big deal with them since they were neighbors. Hearing him turn down her offer seemed to make her smile a little before they both went back to looking out their respective windows. 

After the short ride, the driver parked in front of the quaint tea shop, the pair of them getting out after thanking the driver and Yuri left him a tip as well before they were left standing on the now empty sidewalk. It was awkward for a moment as they both looked around the street instead of talking to each other. 

Constance began wondering why she was having such a hard time trying to find something to say. Did she want to apologize? Did she want an apology? Neither sounded right, but it seemed that he was having just as much of an issue filling the silence. Instead, she took it upon herself to call it a night and head back home. Brushing her hair out of her face, she quickly adjusted her posture and regained her composure before she turned away. 

“Thank you again for the ride home. Enjoy the rest of your night,” she said, before she crossed the road, quickly heading over to her nightclub. 

Yuri wasn’t sure what he expected, but that wasn’t it if he was honest. He only sneered and gave a small wave, doing his best to bite back a snarky comment. He decided that he didn’t need to be mean all the time, she was allowed to have one bit of friendliness, as a treat. 

“Goodnight Shadylady,” he called out to her before he got out his keys and unlocked the door before entering inside where he intended to retire for the night. 

~

As Constance went to the front doors of her nightclub, it didn’t take her very long to realize she had no keys on her. Immediately her face paled at the realization, and part of her wasn’t even sure if Hapi was coming back for the night. Constance was always the one to have the keys or her phone on her, but Hapi assured her that it was going to be fine if she left hers at the apartment. 

“No, no, no!” Constance began repeating out loud to herself, every word getting more and more desperate as it dawned upon her that she was without her set of keys. Quickly panic set in. She couldn’t enter her nightclub. Of course she could break a window or find a way in, but Constance was in no position to be replacing glass or having that conversation with her insurance. She was about ninety-nine percent sure  _ “Tipsy owner broke and entered into her own establishment” _ wasn’t included in the fine print. Without her phone, she couldn’t even call anyone to see if she could get a ride anywhere or somewhere to stay. What else was she meant to do? Fall asleep on the sidewalk as she would wait for Hapi to eventually come home? Never in a million years. 

Just when she thought everything was against her, she heard someone yelling over to her and she turned to see her neighbor across the street, leaning against his front door. When she looked over to him, he made his way across the street to see what the problem was. If Constance didn’t know better, she would say he seemed almost concerned. 

Constance crossed her arms, clearly embarrassed about not being able to get back inside and he came over to her, wondering why she hadn’t gone inside yet. Those expecting eyes that he had trained on her, they were intimidating at first, but the more Constance got to know him, they were less scary. Instead of his usual smirk or grin, his lips were slightly frowned, treating her as if she was some sort of charity case. Normally she would have wanted to get that look off of his face, but this was a unique situation where she wasn’t looking for a fight; She was stressed enough. 

“You can’t get back into your place?” Yuri asked, and Constance shook her head, rubbing her arm. 

“Hapi has the keys, I had completely forgotten to get them from her before I left. I suppose I am a little more intoxicated than I would like to admit.” She let out a nervous laugh, and the way she tensed up made it look as if she was bracing for impact. “I don’t mean to be a bother, but can I borrow your phone? Just to call someone, anyone for a ride or somewhere to stay?” Constance hated asking for help, or admitting that she was struggling, but it was a desperate situation she found herself in. 

Yuri nodded, and opened the door to his shop to invite her in so they wouldn’t need to be standing outside for no reason, looking incredibly suspicious. As much as they might not have gotten along or as irritating as he found her, he found it difficult to turn away someone in need. Clearly he couldn’t just let her sit outside on her own, it was fairly dangerous, especially since she mentioned she was without her phone as well. Of course, Yuri might have been able to pick the lock to the back door, but something told him that Shadylady wouldn’t have taken that suggestion very well. 

As they entered, Yuri turned on the lights and they both winced at the same time, both of their eyes sensitive to the sudden light, apparently. “Let me go grab my phone, I’ll be right back.” He told her before he disappeared in the back, presumably upstairs to his apartment, leaving her to wander around his shop and take a look around. 

Constance by her very nature was a curious woman, no matter what situation she found herself in. In school, she felt as if there was never enough information to learn, especially with her business major and chemistry minor, two subjects that fascinated her. Whether it was with subject material or with people, she strove to learn as much as she could simply to quell her own curiosity. Wandering around the shop and looking at the various photos on the wall, it wasn’t hard to see that this place had meant the world to him. Pictures of he and his mom in front of the store, candids of them both working, selfies of him and Balthus working together. It had a very personal touch to them. Constance could recognize that, and it made her smile.

Part of her wanted to do something like that for her own nightclub, preserve memories before they’re gone. Though Hapi hated her photos being plastered everywhere, she figured she might be able to convince her to go through with it. As soon as she heard the footsteps come down the stairs, Constance quickly went back to where he left her, doing her best to not act nosy. 

Yuri returned back downstairs wearing a black t-shirt and shorts, his hair tied back into a ponytail and his makeup off, it caught Constance off guard for a moment. It was a side to him that she was never quite prepared to see, for whatever reason.

“I have my phone here, but I wanted to offer you the choice of staying on my couch, just until Hapi gets home.” The way he said it made it sound so nonchalant and casual, but it nearly made Constance fall over when she heard him offer her. Seeing her eyes go wide and the shock on her face made him cough, pretending to clear a throat and advert his eyes. “Right, a weird suggestion. It’s just that I figured you wouldn’t be the type to remember anyone’s phone number.”

“What type, the dumb type?” Constance asked with a gasp and a stomp of her foot, taking hold on the situation to ignore her surprise. At her reaction, he laughed and grinned at her. 

“Your words, not mine,” he said in defense, and with a  _ hmph  _ she took his phone and went to punch in a phone number. However, his assumption was absolutely correct. Constance never found the need to remember anyone’s phone number, not when she had a phone to do that for her. Seeing her pause and seeing the gears turn in her head, it made him laugh again, only adding to her embarrassment. Defeated, she handed his phone back to him, sulking. 

“I hate to ask, but would I be able to stay here, just for tonight?” It came out very slow and dejected, taking every ounce of her just to get the words out to him. Yuri took back his phone and nodded a little. He seemed a lot more okay with it than she would have assumed. 

“I did offer, didn’t I? I’ll show you to the couch,” he said before he began to lead the way up the stairs to his apartment. 

~

As he led the way, Yuri began asking himself what he was thinking and why he was leading the largest thorn in his side to his apartment. Usually when he was leading a beautiful woman to his place, he was typically a lot more confident and composed, but this was quite different. Though Yuri knew the answer of why.

No matter how much he might have despised or disliked, if he saw someone in need, he couldn’t leave them. It was in his nature, to help those who needed help, and he knew that he couldn’t just leave her out in the darkness. If he was being honest, during the short time when he was upstairs and got dressed, he had tried calling Hapi and Mercedes only to no avail. Dorothea had answered his call, but she was of little to no help when he heard that she was quite drunk. 

It wasn’t as if he didn’t like Constance, it was more that they met on the wrong foot and then continued to take every step with that same wrong foot. Maybe he never really disliked her? 

As he began to analyse his thoughts, he realized that he had been standing at his front door, staring blankly at it while Constance tried to get his attention. Just what was it about her that made him space out so often? With a quiet apology for the sudden stop, he opened the door and walked inside.

~

Constance wasn’t sure what she was expecting from his living quarters, but this certainly wasn’t it. It was very… mature? Yes, mature, and a lot more classy than she would have guessed. It was immaculately clean and everything seemed to fit inside the room perfectly. Every piece of furniture complimented the navy walls and everything was very modern-chic. A lot of books on the shelves, and off the bat Constance recognized most of the titles. For the owner of a tea shop, she supposed it was very fitting, not quite hipster, but definitely modern. 

He motioned for her to sit down on the couch, and she gladly obliged, taking a moment to look around. Once again, being nosy, but Yuri didn’t seem to mind all too much. 

“Care for a cup of tea?” he asked, letting out a yawn and Constance nodded, mimicking his yawn as well. “Is the rose petal blend from downstairs alright?” he asked as he wandered into his kitchen.

“Yes please, that’s actually my favorite,” she answered without putting much thought into it, but it seemed to have earned a laugh from him. 

“Well, I wouldn’t have guessed from the way you threw it at me all that time ago.” The cheeky way he teased her caused her cheeks to flare, and she stumbled to find a suitable way to defend herself before outright apologizing altogether. This was the first time he’d ever heard her apologize, he noted. “I’m over it, I promise. It’s more just funny than anything. It also happens to be one of my favorite types of tea.” 

“You’re quite talkative, aren’t you?” Constance fired back at him, though she was smiling slightly. Were they bantering?

“I can go back to being rude to you if you’d prefer. I just figured we were upset at each other over something stupid and that it wasn’t worth the energy.” Yuri said as he made their tea, and Constance began making herself comfortable, removing her shoes and her jacket, getting up to put them away so she wasn’t rude. After all, she was a guest in his home, the least she could do was respect his place. 

“By all means you’re free to, I just haven't taken you as the charitable type.” Constance said as she returned back to her spot, sticking her tongue out to him as he walked over with two cups of tea in his hands, her childish expression got him to roll his eyes. “I suppose I should thank you again for allowing me to stay here tonight, I promise to be out as soon as Hapi gets home,” she told him as she took the cup from his hands. Yuri sat down beside her. 

“Well, it wouldn’t look very good for me if I just left you there to fend for yourself. You might be one of the biggest pains in my side, but I’m not completely heartless.” He took a sip from his cup, not flinching at the hot beverage. 

For a short while, the two of them just went back and forth with clever one liners and quips, but it was different than before. Constance wasn’t putting up a character or a front to him, one that constantly made it feel as if she was trying to be something she wasn’t. In return, Yuri wasn’t retaliating or trying to knock her down a peg. It was more like they were old friends than rivals across the street. For people who claimed they were quite intoxicated, they spoke together with little to no issues, almost as if they hadn’t been as affected as they previously thought. 

They stayed up and talked together until it was getting hard for them to keep their eyes open. Since when have they made such good company together? Yuri even offered to grab her a blanket or extra pillows, but when Constance laid down, she found herself plenty comfortable. 

It was awkward saying goodnight, but Yuri made sure to let her know where everything was, including makeup wipes and extra bedding in case she had changed her mind. Calling it a night, he went back to his bedroom, leaving Constance on her own. She decided to go to remove her makeup before returning back to the living room. 

Before Constance let herself fall asleep, she quickly got up to close his blinds just so the sun wouldn’t hit her in the morning, and then let herself drift off on her new acquaintance's sofa. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning comes, and everything gets laid out in front of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually getting back into the groove of writing more than once a week, so I'm very excited to write these new chapters. If you guys didn't know already, my amazing beta, Beat, wrote an amazing one-shot that's based in the ASoI AU and it's absolutely better than any chapter I've written. It's called "A Day of Inconvenience" and I strongly recommend you give it a read 😊

When morning came and Constance woke up, part of her wasn’t sure where she was. Her first hint was the couch she was on was different. It wasn’t the raggedy couch that Hapi had retrieved from a dumpster outside of a college campus. Instead, she was met with a soft suede fabric. The pillow underneath her head was more stiff than hers back home as well. When her eyes shot open, she frantically looked around to try and see where she was. It wasn’t until five seconds later when she remembered what had happened the night before. 

Forgetting her keys, leaving her phone at home, the unexpected kindness of the person she had considered a rival. She sat up and buried her head in her hands in embarrassment. How could she find herself in this scenario? 

Constance Nuvelle; the woman who graduated top of her class, went to university on full scholarships, successful entrepreneur and current business owner now found herself in such an unfamiliar scenario. Then, a sudden realization crashed down on her, and in a panicked state, she frantically searched around. She couldn’t find her parasol.Of course she couldn’t, she fully expected to be at home and didn’t see a need to bring it with her, another oversight from the night before. Now she was standing in the living room, doing her best to think of what she was going to do. 

To further add onto her anxiety, she heard a door open from somewhere, and the sound of approaching footsteps only served to unnerve her more. When she saw her purple haired neighbor emerge from the hall, she let out a sigh of relief while Yuri nearly jumped in shock at seeing her.. He must have forgotten what had happened as well. They stood in place, looking at the other as they waited for the other to say or do something, but they just looked at each other with skeptical looks.

It was as if they were trying to figure out how to react with the others, their shared looks asking  _ “Should I hate you or are we on okay terms?”  _

Constance was the first to break the tension, clearing the air with what they were both thinking.

“How much longer do we intend on being childish to each other?” she asked. Her stance was defensive and her eyes slightly narrowed, expecting him to turn nasty to her and immediately she was lining up her comebacks, as if the night before hadn’t happened. Of course she remembered how casually they both spoke together and the chemistry between them as they conversed, but that was when they were slightly drunk. What if he was more intoxicated than she was? What if he hadn’t remembered any of what had happened? She needed to be on the defensive just in case her feelings were being set up to be hurt.

Though seeing how nervous she was about their situation, if you could even call it one, Yuri chuckled and brushed her off, walking to his kitchen. The way he casually ignored her caused her to let out a whine and follow him into the kitchen, sulking. 

“Hey!” she called out to him, frowning. Constance followed him into the kitchen, and was rather impressed at how nice it was. Marble counters, white cupboards, and not a single utensil out of place. It was no secret he took care of his home, but the kitchen was definitely the most immaculate part of his apartment. 

“I am being quite serious here! This entire time I was led to believe you hated me, and yet here we are in a unique situation in which you refuse to acknowledge its absurdity!” Constance was nearly pleading to him, hoping to get some clarity on their situation. Yuri pretended not to listen to her, going through his fridge as he began to pull out eggs, milk, and a few other ingredients. “Yuri, this isn’t funny.” As a last ditch effort, she gave one last effort to get a response, along with her best pout. 

Hearing her say his name did manage to catch his attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked over to her and grinned before going to his counter. 

“Are you always so dramatic? I figured that was simply a show that you put on in public.” His tone was playful, but only elicited more of a pout from the blonde. “I think you forget that you’re the one who started our little feud,” he said, getting out everything he needed to make breakfast, but Constance only let out a forced laugh, moving beside him. 

“You are the one that forgets! You’re the one who started it! You’ve just begun hating me for  _ no  _ reason and you even spoke ill of me in your interview!” she objected in defense. But instead of taking her seriously, he only grinned more as he cracked a few eggs into a bowl. 

“That reminds me, how did you hear about my interview?” Yuri asked. He could nearly see the smoke coming out of her ears as he purposely ignored her statements, and he found it rather funny to see her process what he said before letting out another dramatic sigh. “Fine, I’ll play along. Fighting with you stopped being fun, especially when  _ some  _ people started getting the wrong idea,” he answered, though the last part of his statement was quieter and more mumbled, not expecting her to catch it. 

Clearly she wasn’t a fan of his explanation, as she crossed her arms over her chest with a stuffy huff, and turned away slightly with a stomp of her foot. However, she seemed to relax when he let out another laugh before going back to his breakfast, scrambling the eggs in the bowl. 

~

They stopped talking again, both of them standing in his small kitchen together while Yuri was making breakfast. Constance only watched him, doing her best to figure him out. 

Previously, she believed that she had Yuri figured out, but this was a different side to him. She had him pinned as this fiend who only ever knew to manipulate people to get what he wanted, that his ego was arguably larger than hers, not to mention the way he looked at someone with such disgust when they were deemed no longer worth talking to. Though seeing him so relaxed, less tense and no longer looking at her with such a distaste, she wondered what she had done to change things.

Unlike most times with the pair, this silence was comfortable. Less tension in the air between them, no longer suffocating both of them, no need to break it either, just the two of them doing their best to figure what the other person was thinking. As if one drunken night could solve everything, it did clear the air between them quite a bit. Without any childish grudge between them, they were really just strangers. Was it going to be a chance to start over? Most likely not, judging by how Yuri typically responded to her, but it was almost nice to have him poke fun at her now. 

“How do you like your eggs? I’m making scrambled but I should have enough to make a different kind of style if you’d prefer,” Yuri asked offhandedly, and Constance furrowed her brows. 

“Now I simply do not know who you are. I figured you would have been pushing me out the door by now, and yet here you are, offering me breakfast.” Constance was skeptical of him, and before she could add another statement, her stomach growled, signalling to the two of them that she was honestly quite hungry. When was the last time she ate? It wasn't at the party, and her and Hapi were between groceries, so she figured the last time was the morning before, if not the night before then. “Any way is fine, thank you.” 

Yuri motioned for her to sit down once again while he was making breakfast, and once things had gotten comfortably quiet again, there was a loud banging at the door, an oddly berserk banging at that. This caused Constance to flinch and Yuri to rush over to the door, opening it just a crack to see Balthus standing at the door, his grin as bright as the sun itself, clearly in a very good mood even after how much he had to drink the night before. Balthus was never one to get hungover, his tolerance was one of steel.

“Mornin’! I smell breakfast, what are you making?” Balthus asked, threatening to push past, but Yuri stayed where he was, partially embarrassed to have Constance sitting in his living room, knowing that someone was going to make a really big deal out of it if he didn’t think quickly. Balthus quickly noticed the shifty look the smaller man gave him, and froze in place, an odd look on his face as he seemed to be putting pieces together.

Yuri had never seen Balthus make this expression before, though thinking back on it, when was the last time he had seen Balthus think something over for more than five seconds?

“Oh I get it!” Balthus said rather loudly all of a sudden before he leaned down to Yuri’s height, whispering to him suddenly. “Why didn’t you just say so?” Balthus looked around, making sure the coast was clear, causing Yuri to cross his arms, wondering where exactly he was going with this. 

“Say what?” He asked, and Balthus only grinned once again, winking to him. 

“You got a chick over, I get it! I thought it was weird when I noticed your blinds were closed, but that’s my fault. I’ll come by and grab some breakfast later.” He nudged Yuri with a grin before standing up, and leaving before Yuri could begin to argue that he had the situation backwards.

“Balthus, no- And he’s gone.” Yuri tried to call after him, then spoke out loud to himself, letting out a groan in mild frustration before entering back into his apartment, seeing that Constance was blushing wildly as she sat on the couch after having heard the entire conversation. Though instead of letting himself get embarrassed, he only shrugged to her, going back into the kitchen. “I wouldn’t worry about him too much, he’ll forget about this in twenty minutes top.” 

“That is in fact not the part that has me concerned!” She argued to him, and he instead went and poured the eggs into a pan on his stove, prepared to actually begin making breakfast. Though once again, there was another interruption at the door just before he could turn a burner on. 

“For Goddess’s sake-” Yuri cursed under his breath before he could hear the familiar voice of Hapi as she knocked on his door. Constance perked up a little when she heard the voice of her roommate, the one person who could rescue her from the problem with the sun without needing to describe her condition to someone else. With a sigh, he once again went over to the door and opened it, seeing Hapi leaning against his doorway with a simple nod in greeting.

For as calm and relaxed as she apparently wanted him to believe she was, he could tell that she had something on her mind. One of Hapi’s nervous ticks was that when stressed, she would repeatedly tap her foot against the ground and have a hard time staying still. Her expression alone might have fooled him, but when you’ve been in a friendship with someone like Hapi for as long as Yuri had, you wouldn’t be able to miss the little things.

“You know I wouldn’t bother you at home if it wasn’t important, especially not when B let me know you have a lady over, but I need to know if you’ve seen Coco.” Hapi genuinely did look apologetic for bothering him, but Yuri could only bring his hand to his face, letting out a sigh with his cheeks turning a steady crimson. “What’s the problem?” she asked, her head tilting in confusion, as if she was a dog doing her best to understand a command. 

On cue, Constance rushed to the door, opening it slightly so she was now visible. Her face was matching his in color, but she looked more relieved than Yuri did. For a second, Hapi stared at the two of them, then her mouth formed an “o” as she was putting together the information. Then suddenly her eyes briefly narrowed into a glare before she went back to neutral, but Yuri couldn’t pretend to not see the amount of anger that one look held. He knew he was going to have to explain everything to her, in hopes that she wasn’t going to punch him or something. 

“Well that explains the curtains-” Hapi said simply, causing Constance to shake her head, flubbing through her words as she tried to find a way to explain herself. 

“Nothing happened, Hapi! You’ve got the wrong idea by incredible margins!” she quickly explained, and Hapi seemed to be willing to listen. Constance had never lied to her before, so she had no reason to not believe her. “I was unable to find you at the party last night and my phone was left at home. Yuri was heading home, so I had gotten a ride with him, and while I fully intended on returning back home, you had our keys! So he allowed me to stay the night on his couch.” 

As she explained the situation, Hapi seemed to understand, her posture relaxed slightly as she heard that she was at least taken care of the night before. 

“That explains the closed curtains.” Hapi said with a nod, before brushing her hair out of her face. “Sorry about that Yuribird. Anyways, Coco, want me to bring you your thing?” She asked, glossing over the fact that she looked as if she was about to assault the man just a second ago, and Yuri was still caught off guard by the whiplash. When Constance nodded in response, Hapi excused herself and left without another word, leaving him dumbfounded before brushing it off, entering back into his apartment. 

“I am terribly sorry for that.” Constance said softly, and when he looked over to her, she was frowning, her eyes not quite meeting his when she said it. It was an odd expression that he definitely didn’t like seeing it. 

“Sorry for what? That’s just Hapi.” His response was breezy, doing his best to assure her that it hadn’t gotten to him. 

~

Following those interruptions, the pair of them did continue on with making breakfast; Rather it was Yuri doing the cooking as Constance set the coffee table in the living room with napkins and silverware. Yuri couldn’t help but notice how attentive to detail she was, making sure that everything sat nicely on his small table, though before he could ponder on it too long, the eggs were finally ready to be served and they could finally eat.

Over the meal, they both were quiet again, both of them quite awkward with the other. It took them to see Hapi’s reaction to realize just how weird it was for them to be hanging out so casually, especially when they both had been so cutthroat with the other, was it really okay to start to enjoy the other’s company? 

As soon as Constance was finished with her plate, she set down her fork on the plate, before she let out a somewhat annoyed sigh at him, causing him to look at her, wondering just how he managed to get such a reaction from her now. 

“You know, I’ve quite had enough of this!” Constance said before she stood up, then pointed at him. She looked rather silly, but luckily for her his curtains remained closed. “I refuse to sit in silence while I ponder if you truly dislike me or where we stand, so from this point on I will be your friend, consider yourself lucky,” Constance seemed quite proud, letting out a laugh that sounded almost fake. “ _ Ohohoho,  _ yes, feel free to thank me for such a grand gesture.” 

Yuri stared at her, wondering if she was really serious or not, and when he hadn’t responded, Constance quickly got embarrassed, folding her arms over her chest as she looked down to him expectantly. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Shadylady.” Yuri said, and while she was about to defend herself, she shushed once he let out a laugh. 

It was a laugh like bells, light and rang through the air. It was warm, she noted, and seeing him genuinely smile as if she had just told the funniest joke he’d heard in a while was something she didn’t expect from him, but she didn’t discourage it either. “You want to be friends? After everything?” 

“Well, when you word it like that, then perhaps not! Even now you find the time to be quite disrespectful towards me.” Constance did her best to act annoyed, but when they both went silent, it didn’t take them very long to crack into a small fit of laughter. 

“You’re a weird one, you know that?” he told her, leaning back into his couch as he closed his eyes. He could hear her stomp her foot lightly, and it only made him grin a small bit more. “Fine, fine, I suppose we can try to be friends, though how long will it take for you to be insufferable?” he asked, and he half expected her to take him seriously like she would have any day before today, but instead he got her stuffy laugh. 

“Is that perhaps a challenge? I will have you know that I am the best kind of friend you could have, mister Leclerc!” Even though his eyes were closed, he was ninety percent sure that she was pointing at him again. It only made his grin widen slightly and before he could respond, there was another knock at his door, and Constance had gone over, looking through the peephole then opening the front door, inviting them in as if she owned the place. 

“Thank you once again for allowing me to stay here tonight, I will do my best to repay the favor,” Constance said, before she left his apartment, but he could hear her hurry back inside. It sounded like she was doing something, but he couldn’t quite tell.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her back into his kitchen with a pen in her hand, writing on a piece of paper. After a second, she went back over to him with a grin, handing him the paper before she had left along with Hapi with her lace umbrella in her hand and sunglasses over her eyes, leaving him to process the fact that she had left him her phone number. 

_ “Constance Nuvelle <3  _

_ 555-XXXX  _

_ In case you’re in need of a friend!” _

Part of him wondered if friends always doodled a heart when giving their phone number out. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Constance reflects on what she's been through in the past over a lunch date with Mercedes, then gets some rather great news about her club.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Beat for continuing to be my amazing beta, they put up with a lot and I'm thankful for their help. Thank you to you as well, you reading it!! There's no way I would have written twelve chapters without having your support!

Ever since the two neighbors decided on a truce, things really calmed down to the point that all of the surrounding shops had taken notice. Especially their mutual friends, such as Mercedes and Dorothea. 

Only recently, Mercedes and Constance had made a new tradition between the two of them where they would meet for coffee before Constance’s shift would start and after Mercedes’ ended. They would often catch up and reminisce about their childhood. It was a lovely arrangement they made, and Constance always appreciated spending time with her “older sister”. Ever since they were kids, Mercedes always looked out for her until they had been separated due to personal reasons. However, now they were reunited and they had all the time in the world to chat. 

They’d often talk about all sorts of things, including what they’ve been up to. Mercedes would often talk about Annette, the adorable ginger woman that worked alongside her, and Constance would gush about Hapi and what a lovely friend she was. They talked about everything and anything as they sat in the comfortable little coffee shop, though Constance could see the sly looks Mercedes was giving her every once in a while, almost as if she was waiting for her to tell her about something. After racking her brain, she couldn’t begin to think about what she was expecting to hear about. 

It didn’t take long for Constance to ask what was weighing on the other woman’s mind, only getting a sweet smile in response. 

“So have you and Yuri started dating yet?” Mercedes asked, causing Constance to let out a laugh, shaking her head at the absurdity. 

“How come everyone around me seems to believe that is where things have gone? No, my dear friend, Yuri and I are barely friends as is.” She clarified, tapping on the side of her coffee cup as she said so, and the action did not go unnoticed by Mercedes. 

“It seems I’ve misread your relationship, I just assumed that after the dust had settled you two would have gotten together by now. It’s been about four months since you’ve moved here.” Her tone was sweet, though Constance would recognize the connotations from anywhere. “You two would make the cutest couple,” she noted. Mercedes added in a dreamy sigh and acted as if she was envisioning it in her head. It caused the younger blonde to shake her head, taking a small bite out of the cookie on her plate. 

“I never knew you could be so delusional. I sincerely hope you bother him about your outlandish thoughts as much as you do with me.” The comment made her giggle, only for her to insist that she was teasing and the two of them moved on to other conversations, ones that avoided talking about any sort of relationship with a certain tea shop owner. Or relationships at all since Mercedes tried to bring up Ferdinand, only to be shut down entirely by Constance. 

“Connie, I’m not saying what he did was right, but…” Mercedes’ voice carried off, and the other was in no mood at all to hear anything in defense of her other childhood friend. 

~

Constance could remember the scenario as if it happened the day before.

_ When Constance was fourteen, she lost her family in a horrific car accident. Without a chance to say goodbye to any of her family members, she was left alone in the world to handle what was going to happen with her future. Since she was deemed too young to carry any weight with her family’s company, it was passed off to the highest bidder, however she hadn’t seen any of the money. Greedy relatives had taken advantage of the now orphaned teenager, claiming that they would be putting the money aside for the young girl, however they would take every dime for themselves. She was sent to live with her aunt, though she was never welcomed when she would try and adjust to her new reality.  _

_ Life was hell everywhere she went. Without a family or anyone to care for her at home, she had hoped that school would have been different, but suddenly now that she wasn’t wealthy or anyone important, all of her friends had disappeared, her former friend group deemed her socially dead.  _

_ At sixteen, she had braces on her teeth that made talking rather difficult, short hair that was cut herself, where she had left her long bangs curled in an attempt to save her homemade hair cut, and cheap clothes that she desperately tried to make trendy to feel as if she still had fit in. Though her efforts were for nothing and she was still treated as an outcast.  _

_ Fortunately, she did find solace in one person. A person that never cared about superficial things. One who was kind to her, who had been kind to her from the beginning in that special nonchalant way that only they could pull off. A peer who could let Constance relax and alleviate the heavy worries which weighed her down on a daily basis. An outcast much like her, one who had ran away from home, only to be adopted into a foster family which they ran away from again. _

_ A friend, who made Constance feel happy. That was Hapi. _

_ Oddly enough (or perhaps fitting enough, depending on how one looks at it), Hapi was on the verge of being held back that year due to her poor grades. But with Constance’s help, she managed to graduate at the very last second, passing that year with the minimum grade point average necessary. This made the lonely blonde feel as if she had repaid her dear friend for staying by her side. Although, things like that never mattered to Hapi. The aloof girl only cared about being with the one who smiled most in spite of her pain. Especially when Constance underwent more suffering as time went on. _

_ The people she used to consider close friends thought it would be funny to take advantage of her new condition that came with being in the sun. Nearly everyday, Constance would find her sunglasses missing, or her umbrella. If not missing, then broken in the garbage so people would get to witness her personality shift, finding it funny to see the usually high strung girl change into a more meek, diffident personality. Constance refused to allow something as small as bullying bring her down, not when she was stronger than that. Every time they would push her down, she would fight right back. Sometimes it was in a literal sense, and Constance was no stranger to having a broken nose from a fight. Eventually she was enrolled in self defense classes, which made defending herself a bit easier.  _

_ Now you might think that some teachers would have noticed the cruel treatment of an extremely traumatized young woman who was being treated quite unfairly, and they did. However, the girls who she somehow managed to make a cruel enemy of had very important parents. Politicians, CEOs, celebrities, you name it. They would pay extra only to keep their daughters’ reputation clean, and they did, allowing them to do whatever they wanted to the young girl. When it was brought up to her Aunt, she didn’t do anything to fight against the unfair bullying, leaving Constance to fight for herself.  _

_ Once she turned sixteen, she was taken in by Hapi who was renting a shitty one bedroom apartment in the city while dedicating her years out of school to working and getting a paycheck to help provide for herself. Hapi was a couple years older than her, so she was able to have her name on the paperwork legally while “renting” out a room for Constance. _

_ Though on that day, the two year anniversary of the accident was when Constance lost all faith in those she used to know. She was simply enjoying her meal with Hapi who always came and ate with her, even though she was no longer a student with her. Hapi was the most loyal friend she could have asked for, and Constance considered her family at this point. Though Hapi was called inside, most likely to be scolded for not being allowed on the premises as she was no longer a student, in which Hapi would curse obscenities and do it anyways. However as soon as Hapi wasn’t right beside her she was being dragged by her hair into the bright sunlight by a group of girls that Constance immediately knew were her former group of friends. As she begged and screamed for them to let her go, they continued to pull her and trip her onto the ground, doing their best to force her to look into the sun.  _

_ “So I hear that you’ve been talking a lot of shit, isn’t that right Constance?!” They pinned her to the ground and yelled at her, causing Constance to yell at them, telling them they were wrong and had the wrong idea. She closed her eyes as she tried to fight them off of her, but when they kept her pinned to the ground, threatening to hit her, she opened her eyes to look for someone, anyone to help her.  _

_ That’s when she saw Ferdinand standing with a group of their friends- no, his friends as they laughed at her being forced to trigger her condition. She screamed out for him to help, but he only stood there and watched as she transitioned into her other personality. It wasn’t until she was crying and apologizing on the ground that the girls let her go and got off, going elsewhere. Hapi had run back to her side, her eyes burning daggers into any passerby who only watched the blonde be tortured.  _

_ Hapi carefully brought her inside, but Constance could vaguely hear Hapi scream at Ferdinand.  _

**_“You’re dead to her!”_ ** __

Reliving the memory had Constance shaking as she was silent, and it wasn’t hard to see that Mercedes was immediately apologetic for bringing it up. 

Since that day, Constance dedicated the rest of high school to getting into the best school she could, and she graduated top of her class, much to everyone’s disdain. During that time as well, Hapi had retaken classes as well, promising Constance they would get into the same school so they could pursue their dream together, and she managed to get Hapi accepted with her as well into one of the best Universities in the city, even though she had been out of school for two years at that point. She was also getting her braces removed, growing out her hair, and becoming the best she could be so she could one day own her own business. She had even gotten nasal reconstruction surgery to fix her misshapen nose from her fights while in school. Ever since then, her father's old company was still a major titan in the industry, however she no longer wished to live in that show, she aspired to have something of her own, and now she did. 

~

“After then, he’s always made attempts to reach out to me, but I cannot forgive him for allowing me to be treated like a rabbit being skinned, Mercedes. I’m afraid forgiving him is out of the question.” And that was final to Constance. Mercedes promptly apologized, but put a small envelope on the table. 

In very neat handwriting, it was addressed to Constance. Perfect cursive, but she was uninterested. Before she could push it back to her, Mercedes gave her an almost pleading look. It was hard to turn that face down, so she stuck the envelope back into her purse. 

Their coffee excursion didn’t go on too much longer after that since Constance had to get going for her shift, thanking her friend for the late lunch before she had gotten a ride back to her nightclub. 

As soon as she entered the building, she could see Hapi on the phone with someone as she was getting the place ready for the night, and Constance did her best to move around quietly while she was trying not to listen to the conversation. She picked up where Hapi left off and started sweeping the floor, the earlier conversation weighing on her mind. It was hard to not think about it, and what was the deal with the envelope? Constance planned on simply throwing it in the fire, but would her curiosity let her?

Suddenly, Hapi hung up and quickly turned to her with a grin, one that was saved for special occasions. 

“Coco, we got asked for an interview for a show. They’re planning on highlighting the shops on Enbarr and want us to be in it.” While her tone was still pretty unenthusiastic, Constance knew that she was just as excited as she was, nearly letting out a scream when she heard the news. Their own interview for the show? That was crazy! “Apparently they’re pretty invested in the shop owners here. And the interviewer is a pretty good friend of a lot of people here.” 

Constance was absolutely thrilled to hear it, and she wondered if the tea shop was going to be featured as well. 

Since when did she start thinking about his shop as if it was her own? This was a big deal for  _ them  _ so she wasn’t sure why she was hoping the spotlight would be shared with  _ him _ . 

Perhaps her feelings were still a bit more mixed about him than she initially thought. Was she being more friendly with him than he was with her? It was almost disheartening, but she felt her phone go off in her pocket, and when she took a peek at the message, she let out a laugh.

Somehow, Yuri always knew when he was being thought of, every time he crossed her mind he always found a way of reaching out. 

_ “Just got a call for an interview and they said you guys were also being featured. Balthus and I are going to stop by tonight for celebratory drinks.”  _

As Constance was grinning down to her phone, Hapi snapped her out of it before they both quickly hugged each other out of excitement. After all this time, they were finally getting a feature about them, and that would only bring their name out further, just like they hoped. However the moment between them didn’t last too long before they both quickly rushed around to finish preparing for opening for the night. 

~

Yuri and Balthus didn’t show up until eleven at night, but once they did, Constance and Hapi got them seated in a comfortable VIP spot where it was out of the busy crowds, but still close enough to the bar and dance floor in case they wanted to go have some fun after they finished their celebration. Hapi and Constance sat beside each other as Balthus and Yuri sat together as well, and they all were sipping out of their drinks, excitedly talking about the opportunity they were given. Balthus was wearing his… finest button up shirt with skulls and a flame design, as well as cargo shorts, while Yuri was simply wearing a black turtleneck along with some nice jeans, completely opposite of each other. When asked about his fashion choices, Balthus only laughed, bragging about how he got out his favorite, and nicest shirt he owned. The cargo shorts were so that he could carry in his own beers since they hadn’t gotten his favorites on tap. 

The four of them talked over the loud music, and Yuri noticed the content look on Constance’s face.He even found himself letting go as they all sat together, almost as if they were all meant to be together. Part of him wondered if they were friends in another life, though the thought was quickly brushed off when Balthus suggested a toast. 

To most people, a feature in a show that most likely wasn’t going to be seen wasn’t a big deal, but to these people who have sacrificed a lot of their lives to ensure their success, it was a reason to celebrate any situation like this. Yuri celebrated with Balthus for his interview with Bernadetta all that time ago, and now he was glad to open up his circle for celebration. 

A half hour passed, and Balthus and Hapi were off somewhere, most likely having a drinking game with some of the locals, leaving Yuri and Constance off to themselves once again. They often were by themselves, weren’t they? Though over the course of a few weeks, Yuri found himself growing fond of her the more that they talked. 

He found Constance annoying and loud, but he didn’t expect her to be quite as funny as she was. Most times she wasn’t even trying to be, but she made him chuckle from time to time. Hardheaded and strong willed, when she wanted her way, she often got it and he was pretty impressed with that. Usually when Yuri wanted something, he had to pull strings and line up opportunities in very specific patterns to make everything fall into place, but Constance would just… do it. A force of nature to be reckoned with, a fact he had to learn the hard way. Now things were calm, and they could actually learn about the other.

After Hapi and Balthus left, Constance moved so she was sitting beside him, and they both were quiet for a moment, listening to the music together as they sipped on their drinks. Constance settled for a non alcoholic drink since she was technically at work, and Yuri got one simply because he wasn’t in the mood for alcohol. After a few songs and bare minimum conversation, Yuri spoke up.

“I was talking to the guy who’s running the interview, and I must admit we’re in a unique situation,” Yuri told her, looking at her in the corner of his eye with a slight grin.Constance was immediately confused about what he could have possibly meant by that. When asked to elaborate, he took another sip of his drink. “They’re under the impression that we still are at each other’s throats, and they’re hoping to make a story out of it.” 

Hearing him say that, Constance laughed, shaking her head slightly. It sounded funny, but not overly unbelievable. It could make for a funny story to showcase both of their shops and add a story, even if they had moved past it. 

“So what are you suggesting?” Constance asked, giving him her full attention now as he did the same, turning back to her. “We both pretend that we have this silly feud go on, and use it to bounce sales off of the other?” 

Yuri nodded, grinning to her as he looked around to see if anyone was listening in on them.

“Think about it. If this is a success, they’ll be tuning in with both of us to see what the latest fight is about.” He started, then setting down his drink. “Besides, don’t you miss when you’d be yelling at me for no good reason?” His voice was teasing, and Constance laughed at him, though there was a twinkle in their eyes as he spoke. It didn’t take very much to get her in on the plan. Now they had to figure out just what their cover story was, and how to hide the fact they had been quite friendly with each other. 

Yuri suggested she throw another drink at him, though all that got was her blushing out of embarrassment, once again apologizing profusely for what had happened. Instead of some elaborate plan, they decided just to simply have fun with this story. If they got caught, they could simply say it was a joke they liked to pull on the other, Yuri seemed confident that it would only bring good results. Either people assume they hate each other and get sucked into the drama, or they see that they’re actually quite compatible and find it charming. Either way, they both could profit off of this if they worked together. With a newfound alliance between them, they spent the rest of the night chatting away about their scheme. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone seems to misunderstand their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, a few notes for this chapter:  
> 1\. My beta reader is amazing as always, I just need to get that out of the way :P
> 
> 2\. I've been having some family issues and I'm sorry if updates will be delayed for this and Two Wrongs (My HapiVain fic). It might not be, depending on what happens, but I want to apologize if an update takes a week or two. I know that doesn't sound long to most, but for me it feels like an eternity haha. Thank you guys for making it to chapter 13 and I hope you guys enjoy this one

In the coming days to the interview, Constance and Yuri continued plotting their dramatic little publicity stunt, texting each other nearly every day to smooth out the finer details. To reduce the chances of their mischievous plan being exposed too soon, they decided to let their coworkers know as well. It was going to be hard to explain after everything had happened, however that meant they needed to get back into the swing of being “rivals” while having fun with it. 

They both returned to teasing one another, as well as over dramatizing their responses. Rather, one of them would be melodramatic. Yuri was a natural actor and it was simple for him to act as if he still was disinterested in the blonde. Constance, however, lacked his seemingly natural ability, and instead made up for it by being incredibly over the top with anything and everything. Any time Yuri would say anything remotely mean to her, she’d blow it way out of proportions, and people seemed to just assume that things had gone back to normal, back to how they were before the party. 

~

One afternoon, Constance took a long stroll down Enbarr, wearing her sunglasses and her classic parasol. During this walk she paid attention to the stores in the strip and recalled what she knew about each one. It was quite an odd group of people who worked on Enbarr, and like she had noticed before, there was a small amount of nearly everything. A flower shop, a jewelry store, even a sports goods store, then of course the tea shop and night club. The variety was probably what made it so interesting to some people. 

There was, of course, the familiar bakery that Mercedes ran along with Annette. Both women eagerly greeted Constance as she passed by, and gladly waved back.. Ashe, a diligent man working part time at both the bookshop beside the Birdhouse Tea as well as the restaurant further down the strip, was there as well.. The bookshop itself was quite small, but it was very reminiscent of someone’s childhood home. If Constance was correct, one of Dimitri’s acquaintances, Ingrid, also worked there. Though she didn’t know much about her, she appreciated the work they did. 

Across the street, further away from the Birdhouse Tea, was a beautiful jewelry shop known as Valentine’s Touch. The pink-haired co-owners were busy putting up signs while a blue-haired woman assisted them. Valentine’s Touch was the most popular jewelry store across Fódlan, mostly known for the beautiful handcrafted jewelry and their impressive online sales. The owners were two siblings, Holst and Hilda whom Constance had briefly met when they came by her nightclub, but the other girl wasn’t very familiar to her. Though she had always wanted to stop by their shop, she simply did not have the funds to truly look around, knowing she was going to buy something if she had. 

As Constance walked by, she noticed that the signs they were putting up were about the show that was going to shoot their interviews. On them was the host that would be asking them questions, and that only reminded Constance she still had so much to do before the show. Cleaning the bar, making sure everything was immaculate, making sure that she would be presentable. 

~

The day of the interview was surprisingly busy. Everyone’s individual interviews were going to take place in their own shops so they should showcase their locations and highlight the important parts of their shop. For Birdhouse Tea, it was the wall of tea that he had assembled behind him as he would answer any questions that would be thrown his way, alongside Balthus who was glad to be on camera. 

For today, Yuri made sure he was dressed quite nicely, wearing a dark blue button shirt along with some black dress pants, though his makeup was flawless. His eye shadow was a soft shade of purple, black mascara along with a deep purple eyeliner. He was turning heads no matter where he went, which was exactly what he was going after. He was sure that his mother was going to be watching his portion of the interview and he hadn’t wanted her to be disappointed in it. Balthus was simply wearing a black t-shirt and shorts since he had forgotten what day it was and simply wore his work uniform, but the producers seemed to love it.

As soon as the cameras were rolling, the questions started. The host of the show was a well-known celebrity that Yuri immediately recognized. Claude von Reigan was his show name, and he was quite famous for this show. His charm alongside his witty sense of humor and intelligence had people captivated by him, so naturally the two were able to chat quite casually back and forth. Yuri had done some research on the show during the days leading up to the interview. It was meant to travel all across Fódlan and find important and unique places that could easily be overlooked. Enbarr was somewhat well known, but it was rather interesting to have a look inside the different shops. 

Yuri was able to answer most of the questions with ease, and Balthus was… Balthus was himself. The two of them played off their natural chemistry together and it was hard to miss how enamored everyone around them were as they spoke. Their jokes landed flawlessly with the host, and even Balthus noticed how everyone around them seemed to stop and watch them as they spoke. 

With the both of them, the questions were really only about them and about the shop, which Yuri was grateful for since that meant the conversation would stay away from Shadylady and stay focused on him. Even with his newfound truce with the blonde, he wanted to make sure that he would have his own time to flaunt and promote the shop before he would spin the web alongside her to make a story between the two of them. 

Eventually though, Yuri was on his own to talk about himself and answer questions while not being concerned about bouncing ideas off someone else. It was more an interview about character than anything, which single-handedly made this the most important part for him. 

The questions were basic at first, but very quickly escalated to what everyone was waiting to talk to him about. 

“So, mister Leclerc,” Claude started, and Yuri let out a laugh, shaking his head at the formality. 

“Please, just call me Yuri. Formalities like that aren't really necessary around here,” he said, leaning back in his chair with one arm behind it, quite comfortable as he waited for a response. 

“I can do that, Yuri. So, I’ve been talking to some of the crew and other influential people on Enbarr, and time and time again they’ve mentioned about a constant feud between you and a certain other shop owner on Enbarr.” Claude grinned, looking down to his notebook and showed the multiple accounts of people he had talked to about the two of them. “You two have been brought up quite a bit actually, and I’m just going to ask what everyone is thinking. What is your guys’ relationship?” 

The question felt intrusive, and the sly grin he was giving him made him question what the plan was with Constance. However, he wasn’t sure if her interview was ahead of his, or if they would even use his statements if he came clean. He needed to play along, like he said he would. 

“Me and her? If you consider the fact that I think she’s the most annoying, intrusive force on Enbarr,” Yuri said with a certain level of disgust, and it seemed to convince those around him. Once he was egged on for more, he obliged. “She’s constantly a nuisance to my shop, but I will say it’s fun to push her buttons. She’s overly dramatic to the point it’s nothing less than fun to get a reaction out of her. She might have a pretty face, but that only goes so far.” Yuri had rehearsed this so many times, but the last statement came out of nowhere, something he hadn’t anticipated saying. 

If he wasn’t surrounded by cameras, he would have been incredibly embarrassed, but the laugh from Claude snapped him out of it. He looked like he was finally getting somewhere with this story, closer to the truth.

“That’s quite the scathing answer! Now, I’m not gonna try and put words in your mouth, but you know what they say: opposites attract. Is it possible that there’s more going on between you two then you’re willing to acknowledge? Perhaps some sort of modern day Romeo and Juliet story!”

It was clear in Claude’s voice that he was only teasing the idea in a playful manner, so Yuri played along by scoffing disdainfully and rolling his eyes at the thought. This was absolutely _not_ the story he and Constance wanted to weave. They were supposed to pretend to _hate_ each other, not secretly be in _love_.

“I assure you, there’s nothing like that with me and Constance. The only thing I can even appreciate about her is that she and Hapi run a great business, but that’s about it.” Yuri tried his best to take the topic off of his incorrect speculation, however it wasn’t going to be so simple. 

Claude looked as if he wanted to go further, but he chose not to, instead changing the topic to Yuri’s opinions on the other businesses along the street.

Yuri was glad to give glowing reviews on the other shops, knowing that the others would have done the same for him. It was an odd sense of unity they all shared, and their little community was all about helping each other, even if they didn’t really know everyone all too well. 

For example, Yuri was somewhat familiar with the owners of Valentine’s Touch, the two pink-haired siblings, however he wasn’t very knowledgeable of the female employee that the younger sister had been dating. Yet he did know that their jewelry was quite beautiful, and all handmade. Their online store was incredibly successful, and them having a store front only did wonders for them. He also knew them by their favorite teas that they’ve bought from him, the pink haired girl was referred to as Rose Petal and the blue haired girl was Lavender. Coincidentally enough, Claude seemed quite familiar with the two of them as well, and the two of them talked about how wonderful the shop itself was.

There was also the bookstore on the other side of his shop owned by the green haired man that Yuri recognized as his neighbor. He wasn’t aware of his name, but he knew the man was a fan of Sleepy Time tea, which was quite fitting. He also knew that the man wasn’t interested in anything unless it pertained to History since he was apparently a History major at the local University. Ashe also worked part time there, as well as at the restaurant down the street. 

He gave as many reviews as he could when he was asked, and he even made sure to mention that Bernadetta, his fantastic reporter friend, did a fantastic job at reporting on the local businesses as well. Not only was she a great blogger, but she also was a fantastic photographer and he encouraged people to check out her works. That was to repay her for doing an interview about his shop a few months ago. 

~

After Yuri’s interviews, it was finally time for Constance and Hapi’s interview about House Nuvelle. Constance and Hapi were seated at their bar, the taps and glasses all behind them as well, the lights back lighting them alongside the front facing lights to make sure they were perfectly lit for the camera. Everything was perfect, from their outfits to the way the bar looked in the shot. Constance was wearing a deep blue knit sweater along with a black skirt and blue knee high boots. Hapi was wearing an emerald green v-neck t-shirt along with some black pants and her worn high tops. Though, their hair and makeup was very well done and only seemed to accentuate their outfits quite well. When they met the host, they immediately picked up on his charismatic personality, and Hapi quickly felt drained, knowing full well that the interview was going to be exhausting.

Hapi was chosen to first be in the spotlight for her unique charm and quirks. Without thinking much about it, Hapi got into the habit of calling Claude a nickname, a gimmick that Claude almost instantly adored.

“So Claudester, what made you interested in interviewing us?” The nonchalant and unprofessional way she had asked it made Constance blush in embarrassment. She smacked her friend’s arm gently, causing the redhead to glance at her in confusion.

“And here I thought I would be asking all the questions,” he teased with a grin, and Hapi only shrugged, motioning for him to answer the question regardless. With that sort of confidence, how could he not? ”What I do is I highlight overlooked parts of Fódlan, give the spotlight to places that might not be given the time of day without publicity. This was initially going to highlight one or two stores, but after talking with some close friends, we offered to extend it as a highlight for the entire street. This will most likely have to be split up into parts, but with the amount of interesting characters here, I think it will be worth it.” 

They were both given some alone time for individual interviews, and Hapi was asked to go first, leaving Constance to go and take a short break while she eagerly waited for Hapi’s part to be done. While waiting, her pride swelled up into exciting anticipation.. How fortunate was she to be part of something so grand? Though before she could build up too much of an ego about it, she checked her phone, and noticed three missed calls from Yuri. 

Yuri never called her, though they texted quite frequently back and forth, they were yet to actually call. For some reason, it felt odd, but doing her best to not think about it too much, she called him back, waiting for him to answer. 

It was alarming how quickly he answered. 

“Hello? What is the matter?” Constance asked, making sure not to give away who she was talking to in case she wanted the original plan to go according to plan. 

“Have you done your interview yet?” Yuri asked, though he sounded a little too impatient for her tastes. She looked around once again before she let her eyes close. 

“No, not yet, Hapi got called in first.” The answer apparently made Yuri go a little quiet, and Constance had to double check that he was still on the other end, checking that the call was still connected. 

“So… Our story apparently might be covered a little _differently_ than what we’ve expected, and I’m going to tell you right now to not freak you out.” The more Yuri spoke, the more concerned Constance was getting. Was it something as simple as their story being blown out of the water? Was Yuri such a bad liar that-

“The story is that people would believe that we’re apparently in a relationship.” 

…

…

“What?!”

~

Constance’s interview started relatively normally, though it was hard for her to actually allow herself to relax after hearing that Yuri had somehow messed up so badly to the point that now people were romantically involved, but Constance pulled every card possible to avoid the conversation. 

Thankfully, she wasn’t pressed too much about Yuri.. In passing he was mentioned, but she managed to avoid it all together and instead went back to talking about her. It was a talent, some people would argue. Until they were actually face to face to talk about what they were going to do, she would deflect.

Constance managed to talk about Hapi, talk about their experiences as a nightclub owner, or really the owner of any business, her experience in the business world, school, and a lot of her personal story. Part of her hoped that the girls who used to bully her in school would be watching, simply so she could flaunt her success. 

~

Even through the minor hiccup with how their plan was distorted, Constance and Yuri couldn’t have asked for a better outcome with everything. 

Now it was time for the couples interviews where Claude wanted to pair together different shop owners to talk about their experiences with the others. Hapi was paired with the meek silver haired boy who ran a bookshop down the street. Apparently they had been talking to each other for quite a while Constance was in her own little world. When the producers let Yuri know he was going to be with Constance for answering questions, he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, claiming that it was no problem, however he recalled that Constance was quite the diva and they should expect a temper tantrum if they broke the news to her. 

Of course they were going to put them together, and that gave Constance and Yuri a good time to finally set things straight and sell the story that they hated each other, not the opposite. 

They both sat down in House Nuvelle, and the bickering had already begun between them to try and convince everyone. 

“Are you really too good to even pull a chair out for a lady? How beastly of you.” Constance glared at him as she took her own seat, and Yuri rolled his eyes at her, though he was still grinning.

“Oh wow, Shadylady, you’re doing a great job at showing these people what I’ve already said about you.” His voice was teasing, and Constance would have taken offense if she didn’t notice that there really was no hatred in his eyes when he talked down to her, reminding her that he didn’t really mean it. 

“Oh, and what could that be? That I’m simply the better one out of us?” She stuck her tongue out at him and before the bickering could go back and forth, Claude came back with a grin and greeted them both before the cameras turned on. They all chatted back and forth, though the two of them were relentless in their bickering, almost as if they were trying too hard. 

“Let’s save some of that for the camera,” Claude said in jest, and the two of them promptly stopped, the embarrassment starting to creep up on the both of them. 

After some final preparations, the camera started rolling and they were finally ready to get the show on the road and begin the interview.

“The rumor around Enbarr street is that you two don’t get along, is that right?” Claude asked the two of them, and when they both went to respond at the same time, they glared at the other before Constance took it upon herself to answer. 

“Yes, though I would argue that is an understatement. He cannot stand me, and I cannot stand him, it’s a rather simple relationship,” Constance answered, and Yuri simply nodded in response, looking at Claude as he seemed to jot down some notes. 

“Right, I suppose that’s fair. Though relationship is an interesting word for you two to use.” The two of them could see the grin on his face as he drew the wrong conclusion, and Yuri was the one to laugh. 

“A romantic relationship couldn’t be farther from the truth. You really think I would settle for someone like her? She’s too loud.”

“He’s too cocky.”

“She’s too pompous.”

“His eyeliner isn’t always even.”

Yuri gasped when he looked over to her and she grinned, sticking out her tongue to him, causing him to cross his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that Claude was enjoying every second of it, and he kept going with it.

“So what is it like to be working across the street from someone you generally don’t get along with?” he asked, and Yuri scoffed.

“It’s like I’m walking on a tightrope, and she’s the gust of air that’s determined to push me off.” As he described it, he took a quick glance at Constance’s face, nearly breaking character at how overexaggerated her expression seemed. Feigning shock, she put a hand over her mouth and glared at him before punching his shoulder. 

“Do not listen to him as he’s a liar. Yuri is the one that is so incredibly difficult to work with. If he deems you unworthy, he doesn’t give you the time of day.” Constance crossed her arms and pouted, and Yuri shrugged.

“She’s right, if I think you’re worth my attention, I’ll give it to you. I don’t just sit and have a drink with anyone, you have to prove you’re not as annoying as I think you are,” Yuri said in a matter of fact tone, though he happened to see her looking at him out of the corner of his eye. For a moment she forgot to react before she laughed. 

“ _Ohohoho,_ why don’t you continue to tell me just how much you hate me on television,” she challenged, and it made him laugh, though he played it off as if it was out of annoyance. 

“As long as you promise to tell me how I’m trash and how I’m stuck up,” he teased back. 

As they went back and forth, pretending to have their feud, they both decided to just have fun. What was the next outrageous thing they could say next? What was the next insult they could give to the other? What was the other person going to throw at them? They were interrupted by Claude laughing, and his director behind the camera was motioning them to knock it off for a small while, so they did. 

They decided to take a pause for a small while, and Constance excused herself away for a moment, but it didn’t take Yuri too long to feel his phone go off in his pocket. 

_“Good job out there~”_ she texted him, and he could only just grin at his phone for a small while until she came back and he quickly got himself back together. 

~

The rest of the interview was pretty uninteresting, just bantering back and forth while answering the questions, then the crew called “Cut” and that was it for their interviews. There wasn’t much that happened afterwards, but Constance did make sure to tell Yuri to meet her around a corner where the production crew couldn’t see them. 

As soon as she saw him, she gently pulled him around the corner, and she grinned up to him, making sure that there wasn’t anyone around before she started talking to him. 

“You did great out there. That was a lot of fun, I must admit,” she whispered to him, playing with her hair as she relaxed. When she looked up to him, there was no denying how stunning he was up close, especially with his hair and makeup done professionally. 

Funny enough, Yuri was just thinking the same thing. When they were sitting together, it was hard to notice how pretty she was when you had to pretend to hate the sight of the other person. Her makeup was minimal, but it brought out the blue in her eyes very well. 

“I’m still mad at you for that comment about my eyeliner, I’ll have you know.” He pretended the words directly wounded him, but all she did in return was laugh quietly. 

“Then allow me to make it up to you and invite you over for drinks and a movie tonight,” she offered, and after realizing the implication behind such a personal invitation, she blushed and scrambled to reword it. “I mean please ask Balthus if he would like to come with and I’ll make sure Hapi is there as well! It would be nice for all of us to hang out like actual friends.” She corrected herself rather quickly, and Yuri only grinned down to her before brushing his hair out of his face. 

“Sounds good Shadylady, I’ll make sure to invite Balthus,” he said with a charming wink before he quickly left. 

On the outside, he was cool, calm and composed, but he couldn’t deny that his heart was beating fairly fast after she invited him over. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For as many inconveniences they come across, they're starting to get closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We be back BAYBE   
> Chapter 14 after a few weeks, I apologize for the wait, but here I am with a good chapter that I really liked. A big thank you to Orange, El and Beat for all being super supportive through everything I write and they're always in my corner for what I write.   
> A big shout out also to L_Alexander and Xylus for giving me the motivation to update with their kind words, seriously, thank you guys. 
> 
> Beat (softandhappy on Twitter) did a great job beta reading this for me, and I can't thank them enough 😊
> 
> (Also follow me on Twitter (Iam_DaiBae) for updates on when I post or about other oneshots I write if you'd like!)

Of all the things Constance counted on happening that night, nearly everything fell through. When the two girls got back to their apartment, Hapi immediately went to her room and started rifling through her wardrobe, making Constance curious. 

“Do you have plans for tonight?” the blonde asked, and the redhead paused and looked over with a small nod. Hapi let Constance know that she had been invited to go out bar hopping for the rest of the night with a few friends, including Dimitri and the silver haired man she remembered meeting earlier in the week, and Hapi mentioned that she was possibly going to back out since she barely knew them anyways, but Constance wanted to make sure that Hapi would make some new friends and have fun, even if it was without her. With all the added stress and work that had to be put in lately, Hapi deserved to go out and enjoy herself, while Constance was more so looking for a relaxing night in. She also conveniently mentioned that Balthus was going to go with her to make sure that she was going to be safe, even though the redhead assured him that she would be fine. 

After she had gotten changed, Constance gave her the usual spiel: “Don’t be out too late”, “Let me know when you’re coming home”, “Be safe”. Afterwards, like a passing whirlwind, Hapi quickly left, leaving the blonde all on her lonesome. . As disheartening that it was that her friend was going out without her, she wanted her to be able to enjoy herself, especially since it had always just been the two of them, and Hapi never had a chance to make other friends. She deserved this, is what Constance convinced herself. 

~

The first thought Constance had afterwards was that she should cancel the plans with Yuri, considering how awkward it would be just to have him over, and before she could text him, his ringtone rang. Naturally, she answered it, noticing that he seemed to prefer calling instead of texting lately, which struck her as a bit odd, but she didn’t seem to really mind. 

“Hey, I’m outside.” Of course he was. “Also, Balthus let me know Hapi won’t be over tonight, I hope that’s not a bother…?” His voice carried off and Constance looked out the window to see him standing there with a small box of something in his hands, and he then noticed her curtain move and he looked back up to her. 

“I will come down and invite you in,” she said before hanging up and quickly tidying up the place, suddenly feeling anxious about the state of her apartment. Would he judge her for how messy it was? Granted a lot of it was Hapi’s, but Constance had been slacking off of cleaning while things have been busy. In contrast, Yuri’s apartment was so clean and put together, while hers looked as if she never graduated college. So close to spiraling down into further panic, she remembered that the more she cleaned, the longer he was waiting downstairs for her. 

Quickly, she pulled herself together and then ran down the stairs to go let him . 

Out of breath and a bit of a mess, Constance opened the front door of her nightclub to see him on his phone, casually looking up to her when he noticed her standing in front of him. It took everything in him to not make a joke about how she looked like she had just run down a flight of stairs (which she had). 

“Sorry for the wait,” Constance huffed, trying not to appear as breathless as she felt, keeping her panting down to a minimal amount as she stepped aside and invited him inside. It was the perfect timing as well, the sun was just starting to set and it was getting a little too cloudy for his liking to be standing outside. 

~

As they walked through the club then up the stairs leading to where her apartment was, Yuri listened to Constance profusely apologize for whatever mess was waiting for him inside. He rolled his eyes and grinned at her. 

“I don’t know when you started apologizing to me, and I’m not sure if I like or hate it.” Constance pouted at his persistent teasing. She was already anxious enough of how he would judge her own home, and this wasn’t helping alleviate it.. For some reason, she was feeling quite self conscious about the state of her place, and his opinion of it. 

Opening her front door, she welcomed him inside. 

When Yuri walked in, immediately the first thing that came to his mind was that the place was  _ warm.  _ Not physically, it was actually quite cold in that aspect, but it really gave off the impression that it was  _ home _ . The walls were a soft, pastel yellow and the floors were white carpet. The furniture itself was definitely not new, but judging by how worn and cracked the leather on the couch was, he assumed that it was more than comfortable. Hung behind it was a cozy quilt. It’s simple design led him to think that it was handmade. Every bit of furniture didn’t seem to match anything else in the living room either. The glass coffee table in front of the couch was different from the wood end tables. The metal shelving that held the television along with many different video game consoles he could only assume were Hapi’s didn’t go with the deep mahogany bookshelves either that were lined with many different books on every shelf. It looked like it was all accumulated over their lives and he wondered if there were different stories to go with all of them. Constance offered to take the small box from him and went to set it on the kitchen table, noticing the name on it was from the bakery a few doors down, making her rather excited at the small offering. While Constance left him, he decided it was his turn to be nosy as he removed his shoes and started to look around. 

One of the first things he noticed was that on every table and shelf, there were pictures of Hapi and Constance together. Whether it was framed or just polaroid photos, they looked to go back years and years ago. Some of them had writing on them as well. There was a scattered pile of small photos on one of the end tables, and being the rat he was, he decided to look through them.

They were photos from when they were in high school, the young girl with braces and short hair was obviously Constance with Hapi beside her, and Yuri immediately noticed that Hapi indeed hadn’t changed in all the years since he’d met her. The captions were along the lines of “First day of senior year” “Hapi’s graduation!” “Coco’s grad” “First day at Uni!”

Yuri smiled to himself, seeing that they recorded all of their grand accomplishments with the other. On the glass table in front of the couch, he saw there was a framed news article about the nightclub downstairs. It reminded him of his own pride in his work. They seemed to have that in common.

“Snooping around, are you?” He heard her call out to him from behind, and when he looked over, he was grinning as he held up a photo of her with braces and her homemade haircut, which immediately made her face turn red and she went to go snatch the photo from him. For a moment, he forgot that aside from personality quirks, she had flaws. 

“Let’s simply call it payback for you being nosy in my own apartment. Don’t think I didn’t notice you poking around,” he countered, making her scoff at him and then walk over to look back at the photos. “I didn’t realize you and Hapi were friends for so long,” he commented, and he looked over to see her smiling sadly at the photos. 

“We’ve been friends since I was about fifteen, or fourteen. It’s been a long time,” she said with a soft hum, and Yuri nodded, deciding to stop poking around her stuff, that it was enough payback for now. Everything seemed quite sentimental and he wasn’t interested in being the one to accidentally ruin something of hers. 

For a moment they both stood there, realizing that there was no reason for them to be here together like this. Unlike before, circumstances brought them together,, but now they both had made the choice to be here. Granted Hapi and Balthus were supposed to be present as well, but this felt different. Was it a good difference? Of course it was in a way neither of them could put it, but the thought was foreign to them considering they’d only just started getting along. 

“The remote is on the table if you’d like to go through and see if there’s anything you’d like to watch.” Constance was the one to break the silence between them, and Yuri nodded, looking to the television and then at the remote. The blonde went off the kitchen, leaving him in the living room on his own, and to test his own theory about the couch, he sat down. Unsurprisingly, it was just as comfortable as it looked and he was pretty pleased that he was correct. 

He grabbed the remote and turned on the television, seeing that the streaming service was already opened up, like she had been preparing for the night. The thought of her being so meticulous made him want to laugh as he started scrolling through the different types of movies that they could watch. 

~

From the kitchen, Constance was making herself a cup of tea, and trying not to freak out as she wondered just what he was thinking. If he knew Balthus and Hapi weren’t going to make it, then why did he come? Did he just want to hang out with her? If so, then why? They hadn’t been friends for long, but then why didn’t  _ she _ call it off? She let her thoughts spiral more and more until she leaned over her counter and gently smacked her cheeks, claiming that she was putting far too much thought into this, that this was just two new friends that were hanging out together and having a bonding experience. Nothing more, nothing less between the two of them. That’s at least what she told herself as she looked over to see him comfortably sitting on her couch. It was an odd sight for her, but it made her smile.

The kettle on her counter clicked and she went to grab two mugs before quickly realizing that she in fact hadn’t asked him if he wanted some. Though something simply told her to make him one anyways, and what was the worst case scenario? That he would say no? Then she would put his mug in the fridge and simply have a cold brew with some added alcohol later. Though carrying the two mugs from the kitchen made her unnecessarily nervous.

When she entered back into the room, Yuri was still scrolling through the endless movies and he must have heard her come over. Constance stood behind the couch beside where he was sitting, holding out one mug for him to take, and without even thinking twice he accepted it with a thanks and looked at her through the corner of his eye as she grinned back at him. It was such a small action, but it seemed to make her happy. 

“Any idea what you wanted to watch?” Yuri asked and she shook her head, taking a sip out of her cup. It was their shared favorite blend, and she was honestly a bit surprised that she had even remembered that small fact. Instead of leaning against the back of her couch though, she went to go sit down next to him, seemingly seeing no issue, but Yuri was rather surprised at how close she decided to sit. He naturally assumed they’d be on opposite sides of the couch, not right next to the other, but if she was fine with it, then he had no complaints either, not enough to actually bring it up or ask her to move. Besides, there was still a throw pillow between them, so it wasn’t as if they were cuddled up or anything. 

~

As they sat together, it easily took them fifteen minutes to narrow down their options, though it wasn’t without bickering on what the ideal genre they should watch was. Yuri mentioned that they should watch something exciting or something with some action in it, and while Constance suggested something more informal and educational. Then Yuri proceeded to call her a grandmother and then took the remote back from her, which then turned into its own mini-argument. Though like arguments that went on with them recently, they both had the biggest grins as they threw petty insults at the other until they both were laughing. 

Finally, they both settled on a suitable solution, and Yuri had the remote so he decided how to choose. It was decided that they would both pick a number, then subtract them from the other and whatever the leftover number was was how many times they had to move down the line of movies and they’d have to watch whatever the cursor landed on. Constance decided eighteen, and Yuri decided on seven, which naturally meant eleven skips. It was a perfectly fine tactic until when they moved down the line, the seventh movie was the cheesiest looking romantic comedy. 

Reading the description had them both rolling their eyes at how incredibly stuck up and out of reality it sounded. A very serious business woman falls in love with her charming neighbour? How realistic was that? Regardless, they both knew that this was the only way they were going to get to enjoy their evening, their completely platonic evening, so they did settle on watching it. 

~

The movie was as bad as it sounded, with the actors who were far too attractive to be real people, the completely convenient plot where  _ everything  _ just happened to work out for the main characters, and the cheesy romantic scenes such as: Kissing in the rain, a candlelit dinner, the scene where the female’s ex boyfriend tries to come back in their life. All the tell tale signs of a terrible movie all wrapped into one film, and the entire time the two of them poked more than enough holes in the film to have fun and pass off the awkwardness of watching a romantic film with a friend. 

“Notice how when they got out of the water, his hair was still dry?” 

“Or how about when she was crying, her mascara ran like wet ink? I’ve never had that happen.”

“What about how no one sweats in that movie when it was apparently the middle of the summer?”

They were the worst critics together and it was a lot more fun than they both thought. So instead of stopping at one awful movie, they loaded up another, making a game out of it. Before the second movie loaded up though, Yuri remembered what he had brought over and excused himself, leaving Constance on the couch grinning to herself. 

Without really realizing it, she was having a lot more fun than she thought she would when he first entered her apartment. The two of them were able to play off the other in such a fun way that she didn’t get with anyone other than Hapi. Not that being around Yuri was a replacement for Hapi of any kind, but it was a new experience she was thankful to have. She could hear him call out and ask where the cutlery was and she gladly let him know what drawer he could find them in.

~

When Yuri went to the kitchen to grab the box that he had initially brought over and a couple forks, he noticed there was an unopened envelope on the counter, and without meaning to, he caught a glimpse at the very neat handwriting that was on it. He didn’t give it another thought or intrude on her privacy, but he found it odd that people still wrote letters in this day and age. He didn’t think or dwell on it too much before he went back into the living room, the small decorated box in his hands. It was hard to miss the way the blonde’s eyes lit up seeing it. 

“Is this from Mercedes’ bakery?” Constance asked, and Yuri nodded, setting it on the coffee table to show the small decorated cake that was baked by the angel of a woman. It had some neat writing on it that simply said “ _ Congratulations! _ ” in the middle of various frosting roses. It was such a small thing, but Constance was grinning as if he had given her a grand gift.

“This was really intended for the four of us to share, but I suppose it’ll have to be shared between only us,” Yuri said with a slight shrug and small grin, offering her a fork. Normally Constance wasn’t extremely big on sweets, but she figured just for tonight, she could indulge herself. It was hard not to when there was a very attractive man beside her offering her a very delicious desert. 

For the next five hours, the two of them sat on the couch together, critiquing the movies they watched together, laughing and making fun of the other while they did so. It was a surprisingly fun time for the two of them, and by the time the fourth movie was over, it wasn’t hard to see that Constance was growing tired, no matter how determined she was to stay up. Her stubbornness was one to be admired, truly, but Yuri took it upon himself to tidy up the cake they managed to get through three quarters of and take their empty tea mugs away into the kitchen. It hadn’t taken him very long and when he came back to the living room, she’d already put a movie on and had it paused while she was waiting for him, making Yuri roll his eyes and shake his head to himself, but he didn’t really have it in him to argue or turn down another dumb movie, not when they were having fun.

At some point through the film though, Yuri was proved right. Halfway through the movie, Yuri went to go talk to Constance about a joke he thought of, only to see her head resting on his shoulder and she was gently snoring as she seemed to be asleep. It seemed that spending so much time with another person like this proved to be too draining, and now she had dozed off. It probably would have been embarrassing and he would have had some objections if he wasn’t so incredibly comfortable, finding himself dozing off as well. It was funny, he thought to himself, they’d spent the entire night making fun of scenes like this in the movies, but he found himself oddly okay with being like this with her. What could he say? She made good company. Before letting himself fall asleep, he carefully moved to grab the quilt off the back of the couch and wrapped it around them before he finally let his eyes close.

As the two of them slept on the couch, at some point he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she wrapped her arms around him as well, the two of them cuddling on the couch through the night. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe some things can be forgiven, or at least talked about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I know it's been another hot minute but here is yet another chapter. I'm sorry these take so long, and the next one might take even longer, and I'm sorry that this one is so short. Recently it feels like I can't write anything of value or quality, so I apologize that this one isn't up to my usual standard.
> 
> This chapter was beta read by Beat, my best friend even though his critiques can be a bit mean sometimes ;w; (I'm just kidding, ily)

It hadn’t even been morning yet when Constance woke up, the sun wasn’t due to rise for a while and the sky was still dark. Soon, she recognized that she had her arms wrapped around something warm, and nuzzled her face against it. That was until she realized what, or rather _who_ , it was that she was cuddling. Beside her was a snoring man, his head resting on the back of her couch and an arm draped around her shoulders. It was Yuri, she gathered that much, but why was he still here? Nervously, Constance slowly moved her arms from around him, trying not to stir him awake so that she could go freak out and have a fit somewhere that wouldn’t wake him. 

Successfully, she managed to pry herself out of his grasp and then made her way to the kitchen, slapping her cheeks to get herself to wake up faster. Constance suppressed her embarrassment deep down inside of her, doing her best not to put too much thought into the fact she was cuddled against him on her own couch. Though of course when she and Hapi would fall asleep on the couch, they’d end up cuddling, but with Yuri it was definitely stranger. To her, Hapi was family, while Yuri was a man directly out of the movies they watched the night before. There was no use trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened and maybe she was simply too tired to really think about it clearly. Promptly it was the last thing on her mind when she looked to the unopened envelope on her counter. 

Right, there was that issue. 

When she looked at her clock, it only read 3:04 in the morning, and while she was dealing with the various thoughts and conflicting emotions running through her, she decided that it was better to read it now than never. A part of her knew that maybe she shouldn’t since she knew  _ exactly  _ who wrote it for her. Who else did she know that wrote in perfect cursive, or still even wrote letters in this day and age? Only the most  _ aristocratic _ man would keep old traditions alive and well. He always was so dramatic. 

She nervously glanced to her living room where Yuri was sleeping soundly, and with a sigh, Constance left to her own bedroom where the light wouldn’t bother him. Making her way over to the room as silently as she could, she opened and closed her bedroom door swiftly before turning on her light and sitting on the edge of her bedroom, grabbing her letter opener from her night stand. She scoffs at her own hypocrisy when she does so. It was, after all, mere moments ago that she made fun of Ferdinand for writing her a letter, but now here she was, the one with a letter opener ready at hand. 

With a single breath, Constance opened the envelope and she took out the letter, seeing that it was dated the night after Mercedes’ party, which made her snort.The fact that this was a recent letter made her laugh before she quickly wiped the grin off of her face as if she had just remembered that she was supposed to be angry with him. 

To summarize, the beginning part of the letter was an empty apology, at least to Constance it was. He apologized for the treatment she endured over the years, apologized for his insensitivity towards her regarding the loss of her family, but that wasn’t what she was looking for from him. These were shallow words, and it almost encouraged her to rip it up then and there, but instead, she kept reading. Since she had gotten this far, she might as well finish it.

The second half of the letter was vividly outlining a memory he had, a memory he seemed to regret. Constance remembered it quite well. Her senior prom night. It was a night she had tried her best to not think about too much, especially since it was nothing short of the typical bullying and harassment she had grown used to. Though her hair had begun to grow out, her braces were removed, and she finally learned that there were other kinds of makeup than cheap gas station mascara and blue lipstick. 

_ People finally began to notice her for things other than her condition, and the people who hated her despised that their bullying wasn’t having the same effect it used to.  _

_ Prom night was a disaster, to say the least about it. She thought it was going to be fun, having Hapi with her, dancing to loud music, celebrating the fact they were going to be off doing things in their lives after, but that was not the case, not even close.  _

_ The tormenting never really stopped, and she should have expected as much. Just for one night, she wanted to let go of everyone’s expectations of her, and she could easily wave off the comments that were made, the glares and snide remarks said about her and Hapi, but there was something that broke her heart.  _

_ One boy she recognized as someone who graduated a year before her, someone who was on the football team before graduating asked for the two of them to talk outside, and she had accepted, and followed him outside the doors. From there, the boy admitted that he had known her older brother before he passed and wanted to talk to her about him. She froze in her spot, almost insulted, pulling away from him, demanding to know why he wanted to talk about him. He handed her what looked to be a jersey, and on the back it had their last name and his lucky number. Constance felt herself tear up, looking at the printed number 1.  _

_ “He could never-” _

_ “Settle for less than being number one,” Constance finished his sentence, not looking at him. Instead, he patted her shoulder and left her alone outside. From there, she waited until she was alone to let herself break down and let herself be overcome with emotion.  _

_To this day, Constance preserved the jersey, and she wouldn’t know until later that night that her older brother would talk about her to anyone who would listen. Even though her brother was a few years older than her, he was active in coaching the new recruits, and apparently was hailed as a legend to the football team. That one guy wasn’t the only one to talk to her, apparently they wanted to stress to her how amazing her brother was, and how proud he would have been to see his little sister graduate_. 

So she wondered what he could have possibly had to say about her prom night that was worth writing to her about.

Ferdinand had been invited as the “date” by an upperclassman, one of Constance’s classmates, and he avoided the blonde like the plague. He recalled not wanting to be around her for too much, knowing he had done her a disservice by leaving her behind, and wanted her to enjoy her last big night before she would graduate. Constance was with Hapi after all, and they seemed to enjoy the night together, dancing and having fun, despite what was being said around her. 

But one thing that he mentioned was he had gone out to take a break, a breath of fresh air to get away from the crowd, but what he saw was the blonde outside, sitting against the wall directly beside the doorway. It was a sad sight, to see a girl outside, crying in her prom dress, her hands clutching a piece of fabric or something. Ferdinand was going to run away, and leave her be, but instead he simply leaned against the other side of the doorway, looking at the sky as he listened to the quiet sobs of the girl beside him. He recalls staying there for an hour, trying to work up the courage to go over and try and comfort her, but he couldn’t. He knew he didn’t have the right to be the one to be by her side. She seemed unaware of his presence, and he wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse. 

The moment he swore he worked up the courage, Constance finally stood up, dusted herself off of the dirt, and wiped her tears before she would walk back inside to face the crowd. Ferdinand watched with wide eyes, but she didn’t even look at him when she pulled herself back together. 

Reading the words he wrote, Constance frowned to herself, but it was more sad than angry. Genuinely, she had no idea that he was there to see her at such a moment of weakness, but the fact he didn’t just leave her was comforting at least. At the bottom of the letter, she saw his closing statements. 

_ “I know it would be hard to believe me when I say I’m genuinely sorry, and words on paper cannot do my apology justice. I’ve finally worked up the courage, and I want to ask you out to coffee sometimes, so we can talk. I’ve included my number, and I’ll be waiting by the phone in case you decide to give me a call. Yours truly, Ferdinand.” _

And as promised, there was his phone number at the bottom of the page. 

“Wow,” was all Constance could say, rereading the letter multiple times, having conflicting emotions about it. Obviously, this didn’t fix anything on its own, words on paper weren’t worth anything, but the fact he was making an effort to reach out to her, something he recognizes he should have done a long time ago, she was pretty moved. 

Her head began to spin, many different feelings tangled together. Frustration, relief, disappointment, hope, resentment, a desire to make amends. She almost felt nauseous, if she was being honest. She looked at the clock once again to see that an hour had passed, yet she wasn’t feeling tired at all. 

So many thoughts ran through her head, and Constance had to lay herself down to try and cope with it all. However, she found that laying down didn’t help, and soon became overwhelmed.

Then out of nowhere, there was a knock at her door, and she quickly recomposed herself. When she opened her door, she found herself face to face with a very disgruntled Yuri. He yawned as he wiped his eyes, and he looked to her. 

“I just wanted to make sure… Hey, are you crying?” he asked, squinting his eyes at her and immediately her hand went to her eyes, wiping away the tears she didn’t realize were falling. He looked a bit concerned, but it was clear that he didn’t know how to react. Constance laughed at his awkward reaction, making him be taken aback before he huffed, his stance getting defensive which only made Constance laugh more, shaking her head. 

“I didn’t expect you to still be here,” she admitted to him. Her glossy blue eyes softened his expression, and when he realized he had blushed, he coughed into his hand as an excuse to hide his face. It was that moment he realized how inappropriate it was for him to be there, especially now in the early morning, standing in front of her bedroom door. 

“Well, I did just wake up, and I saw your light was on, so I figured I should check if you’re okay.” he said as he wiped his eyes, accidentally smudging his makeup. When he once again turned away to hide his embarrassment, he nervously chuckled. “You wouldn’t happen to have any makeup remover would you?” he asked, still facing away from her. For a moment, Constance didn’t understand the sudden change in stature from him, and then it clicked.

His typically perfect makeup was smudged, and he didn’t want her to see it. Was he perhaps insecure about it? Naturally, Constance wanted to be smug and tease him, but perhaps it was the overdrive of emotions that was coursing through her veins that made her decide to take it easy on him. So instead, she turned away from him as well, facing back into her room. 

“Bathroom is the first door to the right, I should have my wipes on the counter,” she said softly, and for a moment they were both just silent before she heard him mutter a soft “thank you” as he went down the hall. Constance figured that she wouldn’t be going back to sleep any time soon, so she stashed the letter and letter opener away, then returned to the kitchen. If she couldn’t sleep, she at least wanted to calm her nerves by drinking tea.

~

One minute, five minutes, ten minutes turned to twenty minutes that passed. Constance sat at her small dining room table, sipping her third cup of tea near the light as she held her phone in her hands, staring at the blank message screen with Ferdinand’s number put in. Just when she was going to respond, she heard a door close and then from around the corner stood a man she almost didn’t recognize. Of course it couldn’t have been anyone other than Yuri, but admittedly he took her breath away. 

Constance never knew makeup could change someone’s appearance so drastically, but seeing how gorgeous he was showed her how wrong she was. Almond shaped piercing purple eyes, pale complexion, prominent cheekbones, his thin lips stretched into a small frown. He had even tied his hair up into a small ponytail, he looked quite different than anytime she had ever seen him. Usually he was beaming with the very essence of confidence, but he looked a bit different now. Vulnerable, almost. She tried to not stare at him too much to avoid seeming rude, but the man noticed this, and sat down across from her with a sigh.

“Alright, out with it. Where’s the comments? The jabs?” he asked and it was Constance’s turn to cough, shaking her head. 

“I do not know what you mean. Oh, did you do something different with your hair?” she lied, and for a moment, Yuri narrowed his eyes before laughing, rolling his eyes as his arms crossed. She was a bad liar, as it seemed. Realizing she had been caught, she only doubled down further in attempts to convince him that she didn’t notice the stark contrast between him with and without makeup. He was buying into it, but he knew that he wasn’t going to get much further. “Care for something to drink?” she asked, trying her best not to look at him as she got up. 

“I’ll take anything,” he said, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Admittedly, it was sort of nice to not talk about it, and even if she was a glaringly obvious bad liar, he appreciated that she didn’t bring it up at least. 

In no time, a cup was placed in front of him. When he heard the soft  _ clink _ against the table, he opened an eye and reached out to take the cup. As he sipped, he noticed Constance not-so-secretly looking in his direction, holding her tea cup to her lips but not taking a sip. His eye twitched and then he set his cup down, rubbing his forehead in annoyance.

“What is it? Is it really that obvious?” he asked, his tone a bit sharper than he meant, but instead of her getting upset, her cheeks turned pink and she stammered. “Surely I don’t look like a monster, it’s just makeup,” he said dryly. 

“It’s not that, it’s just…” she shrank in her spot a bit. “I think you’re very good looking even without your makeup, that is all,” she said before quickly clearing her throat and taking a sip of her drink. 

To add to her embarrassment, he laughed at her response, a genuine, sweet laugh that brought tears to his eyes the more he laughed, making her get defensive as she became more embarrassed.

“Not that I think- Oh forget it! Forget I said anything, I was just trying to make you stop being a sulky, whiny baby,” she argued, frowning as she threatened to get up, but she felt a hand on her arm, and when she looked up to him, he was grinning smugly at her.

“Thank you, Shady Lady,” Yuri said, but behind his smug grin, she could see almost relief behind his eyes. It made her calm down, but she swat his hand off her arm, doing her best to regain her composure. 

“I am returning back to bed for a few extra hours of sleep. You’re free to take the couch if you’d prefer,” she said, standing up and when she looked at him, he was looking up to her with an infuriatingly sweet expression, and she knew he was teasing her. 

“I think I’ll be heading back home actually, I have a few things I need to take care of at some point, and I’d hate to be a bother in the noble lady’s presence.” He snickered as he spoke, and it only earned a foot stomp and a huff as she turned away slightly. However, the act wasn’t kept up for very long before she grinned slightly back at him. “Thanks again for the night, we should do this again sometimes,” he said, punctuating his offer with a wink, and when it got a more flustered reaction, he laughed and went to grab his jacket from the main room, making sure he had his phone and everything. 

“Be safe on your way home,” she told him, looking over to him when he made it to the front door, and with a nod and a grin, he left, quietly closing the door behind him. 

  
~

As Yuri started to walk home, he pulled his hood over his head to try and cover his bareface in public, and when he made his way across the street, he noticed that a certain bedroom light stayed on until he entered inside his building, making his heart skip a beat as he went back into his own apartment. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I hate worrying about things, but it just feels like things are changing around me and I dunno what to do about it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy smokes it really has been a while, hasn't it? So much in my life came up and I've been struggling to write this for a while, but I'm back with hopefully an alright attempt at an apology. This chapter unfortunately wasn't beta read, as my beta reader is an absolutely amazing person who has a lot going on. Beat, if you're reading this, I love you lots dude!!

_ Things were weird _ , Hapi thought to herself as she sat at the bar with a drink in her hand as she stared at the television playing some sport she didn’t care for. An entire night of bar hopping with her buddies and Balthus, and not once did she get a worried phone call from Constance, or a text asking how she was. Surely she had plans like she mentioned, but Constance was always the kind to overly worry. If something was wrong, she would have been let in on it, but what if it was the complete opposite? 

“I’m thinking too much…” she muttered to herself as she ordered another drink. The bartender eyed her worriedly since she had been doing nothing but drinking the entire night. Unbeknownst to him, her tolerance was phenomenal and she did eat the equivalent of a mountain of food before the group came to this bar. If anything, she was chasing a tipsy feeling so her brain would stop overworking itself. Everyone else had gone dancing or chatting up strangers, and Hapi only wished she was with her best friend at home. This happened every time, she would go out, have fun at first, but start missing her uptight yet responsible friend. Maybe she should have invited Constance with her or just stayed at home. 

With an irritated sigh that her mind was still running at a thousand thoughts a second, she closed her eyes while she let her head fall and her forehead rest against the counter.. The bartender called to her, but she just waved a hand to show that she was fine. 

“Hapi, is everything okay?” a soft, but rough voice called to her and instead of sitting up, she rolled her head on her side to see that it was Dimitri with two bottles of water in his hands and a concerned expression.  _ Man he was tall,  _ Hapi noted as she nodded slightly, motioning for him to sit with her if he wanted. Gladly, he took the invitation and sat beside her on her right, putting a bottle of water in front of her. Even though the redhead was hoping to get drunk, she also wasn’t an idiot and knew she should get some water in her system. She sat up and unscrewed the cap, taking a sip of the drink which made Dimitri look a little less nervous since it made her seem fine. “If you’re feeling unwell, I’d be more than glad to take you home.” His offer was genuine, but Hapi instead waved him off with a shrug. 

“No need, Didi, I’ll be fine. Just doing too much thinking.” Her tone was uncaring, but there was a look in her eye that gave away that something was eating her up inside. When she looked over to him, she immediately knew he could see right through her and she gave a big sigh. “I hate worrying about things, but it just feels like things are changing around me and I dunno what to do about it.” Hapi picked up the water bottle and drank half of it in one swig. It didn’t take much to notice the look of surprise on Dimitri’s face when she drank so much water in one go, and he placed the second bottle in front of her.

“Well, I’m not one to give advice, I’m quite awful at it actually…” He began to look around for someone better suited to give their insight on things, like Ashe or Mercedes, but he was once again waved off by Hapi. “Maybe talk to the people who you think are changing,” Dimitri said, looking over to her with his good eye, and Hapi groaned. 

“Can’t I just pretend nothing is different?” Hapi asked, the more tipsy part of her brain argued, and to her surprise it earned a hearty chuckle from the blonde, and he shook his head. 

“You know that’s not what you should do.” 

~

Soon enough, Dimitri ended up bringing her to her home, adding to the many people he was already forced to bring home. Hapi sat in the front seat with him, while Balthus and the rest rambled and sang together, emboldened by the alcohol.. Hapi couldn’t help but stare out the window, looking at the stars in the sky with a childlike wonder. This was a part of her personality that she would normally keep hidden away. But with everyone drunk in the back seat and Dimitri focused on the road, she let herself stare. They were so bright that night, even with the light polluting the sky. 

_ Coco and I haven’t gone stargazing in a while, maybe that’s what we should do,  _ Hapi thought to herself, imagining how to make it up to her friend for skipping out on her plans that night. Even though Constance was the one to assure her that it was fine, here was Hapi, who wished that she instead stayed with her friend.  _ I took her for granted, huh.  _

Dimitri dropped her off at the front door to the nightclub, and rolled down his window to catch her before she went inside. 

“Call me if you need anything, yeah?” His tone was genuine, and almost as if on cue, the entire backseat started saying goodnight to her, calling out to her. Cracking a slight grin, she waved Dimitri off once again before going to the back door that would take her right to the stairwell. After the car pulled away, she looked up and noticed a hooded figure walk towards Birdhouse Tea, and she wondered if that was Yuribird.  _ Huh. _

Inside, Hapi immediately threw herself onto the couch, and sighed with relief. Until today, she had never felt so happy to be sprawled out like this. Although, something felt off. Immediately she could tell there had just been people on itThe cushions were a bit disturbed, the seats were warm, and the wrinkled blanket carelessly left on the armrest was far too telling.If anything, she was glad that Constance wasn’t left to sit at home by herself. Hapi decided that she would ask for answers in the morning. She was too tired to let herself wonder. Slowly, she felt herself lull off to sleep in the comfort of her own home. 

~

That morning, Hapi was woken up to the sound of the television on and the sound of something sizzling on the stove and a delicious smell in the air. She opened her eyes only to close them again quickly, the light burning through her retinas and she let out a loud groan. Constance called out to her, but all she could hear was “water” and “medicine” out of the sentence. Blinded, Hapi reached her hand to the coffee table and flailed around before feeling the small pill bottle and bottle of water that was refreshingly cold. Never before had she popped two pills into her mouth and drank water, and she gladly waited for the medicine to kick in. 

Constance always took care of Hapi when she would go out, and for that Hapi was very thankful. When she was finally able to concentrate, she recognized the program on the television was the local news, something Hapi could never keep up with.

“What would I do without you.” she called out to Constance, still wincing slightly, but it was nice to hear the younger girl laugh in response. 

Fifteen minutes passed and Constance announced that breakfast was ready, and Hapi opened her eyes experimentally, relieved that the sensitivity was gone and she was finally able to get up and look at the spread that Coco was making for her. Her favorite breakfast; bacon, bacon and even more bacon. It was simple, sure, but Hapi was a simple woman who enjoyed a plateful of bacon in the morning. 

There wasn’t much said between them as they sat down to eat, Hapi with her plate of bacon stacked high and Constance sipping her tea, but what did catch their attention was the sound of the news reporters saying something about an urgent news story. The two of them looked over, and though their vision wasn’t very clear of the television, they could hear the reporter talking about a recent spike of criminal activity that seemed to start out of nowhere. Not much else was known, but people have been reported missing. 

“That’s scary…” Constance said with a frown, and Hapi nodded slightly, but in her typical fashion, she didn’t seem to think about it too much and went back to eating. The pair of girls brushed off the story and instead spent the morning together, talking about the night before and enjoying their presence, as they usually did. 

“You’re telling me you and Yuribird were all cuddled up on the couch?” Hapi asked, and when Constance blushed and told on herself, Hapi made a face. “Gross.” 

“There was nothing gross about it, get your mind out of there!” her tone got defensive and high pitched, making Hapi laugh and roll her eyes. “I assure you, we were simply watching a movie and I suppose we had just fallen asleep. Besides, we woke up and left each other alone after that.” Hapi seemed satisfied with that answer, and didn’t really care to pry more. If they wanted to get closer, she wouldn’t really oppose. Besides, she figured Yuri could use an actual friend for once instead of putting on a fake face to everyone around him. 

“Hey, Coco, listen…” Hapi could feel her palms get sweaty when she was preparing herself to apologize. There was an overwhelming tightness in her chest when she thought about drifting away from Constance when that was the very last thing she wanted. Did she feel that same way? They have been spending less time together and talking less. Not being there for her after that party, their usual nights together diminished, even their work lives felt strained, and that was the last thing Hapi wanted. Her eyes stared at the table, and the words weren’t coming out. 

As Hapi seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say, Constance instead shook her head and got up, taking the empty plate in front of her. 

“Hapi, there’s nothing to apologize for.” she said before going to put her plate into the sink and Hapi looked up to her with a confused look. How did she always seem to know what she was thinking? “It’s always been just the two of us,and while your friendship is more than I can ever begin to thank you for; it’s natural that your friend group expands, just like mine has. But at the end of the day, you’re still my family.” She wasn’t even looking at her and the words sounded so natural. Most people might have thought it was dismissing her feelings or waving off her own insecurities, but to Hapi; it was a sign that everything was okay, that there was nothing to apologize for and that the two of them were  _ okay.  _

“You’re right. How about instead of being sorry, we go out and do some stargazing just the two of us? We haven’t done that since we moved.” it was a simple suggestion, but like that; the air around them cleared. There wasn’t anything hanging above them now and things could go back to feeling how they were.

Hapi and Constance then planned to go out that evening, planning on a night to go view the stars. Together, they were planning on even taking a road trip to their old hometown where they met, because there was a little undisturbed hill where the two would escape the world and go to stare at the sky. The two girls turned their phones off, left almost all technology behind (much to Hapi’s complaints, but Constance wanted the experience to be as authentic as it possibly could be) then went off on a trip. 

By the time they arrived at their spot, it was already the middle of the night and the wind was cold; just like they remembered from back in high school. The grass was greatly overgrown and had no hints of being disturbed, which really solidified that it was always their special spot. Laying down a blanket, pouring some drinks and setting up a small speaker to play their favorite music, the pair of them spent the night looking at the stars, reminding the two of them that their friendship hadn’t changed, or if anything, changed for the better.

~

By the time the pair of girls came home, it was already mid noon on a weekend, and their phones had blown up with notifications from their newly made social media they set up for their night club. Apparently their very well known friends had noticed that they had set up something up for House Nuvelle and started sharing it along with the photos they had taken. 

Before they left for their stargazing trip, they had maybe five followers: Constance and Hapi on their private accounts, Yuri, Balthus and Mercedes. Constance was excited enough to watch as their friends gave their account attention and claimed that in no time they would take off, but she didn’t expect it to take off like it did. Hapi got out her laptop and on their couch, the pair of them took a look at their tagged posts and saw what everyone was saying about their business. 

Everyone and their mother seemed to be talking about them and their experiences at House Nuvelle. Thousands of photos taken from their days there, videos of the crowds dancing, there were even videos of the two girls behind the bar, pouring drinks for customers. Nearly everything was incredibly positive, and the pair even got a good laugh when they noticed a negative post including a man with a black eye commenting about how he went in on opening night and got punched out by the blonde. 

“Whoa, the comments are clowning on him big time.” Hapi commented, and Constance turned to her with the most confused expression wondering what words just left her mouth, then Hapi motioned to the entire comment section putting clown emojis and spreading the video of him putting something in a drink and Constance punching him to a pulp. The two of them laughed as Constance’s embarrassment grew, then they went back to looking at posts. 

“Best place to go for drinks!”

“Met the love of my life!”

“The owners are hot af”

“10/10, best place to spend a Friday!”

Then Constance picked out a photo that was taken on the night Yuri and Constance made their deal for the television special. It was a group photo of the four of them, taken by Balthus. It was blurry and not with the best lighting, but it was important to see. Balthus must have posted it with a caption in all capital letters saying “THESE TWO CHICKS KNOW HOW TO PARTY, BUT IT NEEDS BETTER BEER. PARTIALLY JOKING, BUT SERIOUSLY HAPS HELP A BRO OUT”.

After an entire afternoon of reading posts and filling their ego slightly, they decided to go out to dinner to celebrate yet another step towards their own success. Getting dressed up and ready to leave, just as they went to leave, Hapi got a text from Dimitri, asking if she’d like to go out for supper along with his group of friends, his treat. Apparently his friend group had taken a liking to the redhead, and when Hapi looked over to Constance, she decided to decline, saying that she was going out with Constance. The blonde didn’t seem to notice, but Hapi seemed confident that it was a good thing to celebrate with her business partner and go out. 

~

“Hold on, he said what?” Hapi asked, taking a sip of the expensive beer in her hand, raising an eyebrow and cocking her head slightly when Constance brought up the letter she received from her childhood friend, and Hapi was immediately suspicious about what this guy wanted. Then again, Hapi was often on edge when it came to people from Constance’s past reaching out; especially now that she was getting popular and successful. Hapi was confident it was going to be bad news, but when she saw the look in Constance’s eyes, it was easy to see that the blonde needed answers from her past, and Hapi figured that it was pretty important for her to even consider it. 

“He said he was sorry, and while you know I am not the naive type, I figured there would be no harm in at least seeing what he has to say. If it is something ridiculous and out of his rear, I’ll simply leave, but I feel as if I owe him something.” she had some good points, and when Hapi opened her mouth to speak up, Constance shook her head, as if reading her mind. “No, I do not want you to come along to protect me. Every time you do something like that, you end up in a fight.” 

While Constance was absolutely correct and that Hapi had quite the… Protective streak in her, it wasn’t going to stop her from planning on finding out where she was going. To do so, she was going to need to enlist the help of-

“Hapi!” Constance waved her hand in front of the redhead, and when she looked back to her, she was laughing and shaking her head. “Easy, it’s only for coffee. I assure you, I will be okay. But even to make you feel a bit better, I will allow you to give me an emergency call at some point.” 

An emergency call was something the two girls came up with for the other when the other was going to go out for something fishy. Bad dates were the typically the reason for such things, but whether it was job interviews or even just unwanted situations, they made plans to call the other and make it convincing to sound like an emergency, which allowed the other person to get away and the person they were meeting with wouldn’t know that the other was hating the interaction. Typically, it was Constance having to call Hapi because of her dramatics and passion for poorly acting, but it never seemed to really fail. 

So they made the plan that an hour into the meeting with Ferdinand, Hapi would call her and come up with an outrageous lie to get her out, but if Constance doesn’t answer or hang up the call, then Hapi will know she’s fine. 

~

After paying their tab and getting back home, Hapi decided to call it early and go straight to her room, but as soon as she did, Constance heard her phone ring from her clutch purse and immediately she answered it seeing who it was. 

“So you got asked out on a date?” immediately Constance huffed and rolled her eyes, figuring that Yuri was going to want to know whatever details he could. 

“How did you find out?” it sounded like a silly question, and apparently it was judging by the way he laughed. 

“Hapi told me.” Yuri defended, and Constance was incredibly certain she could  _ hear  _ the grin that was on his face. 

“Sorry Coco!” Hapi called out from her room, making the blonde sigh in both frustration and curious how Hapi managed to break the news so fast. 

“So, when and where is it going to be?” this time it was her time to laugh, though in near disbelief that he was so intrigued to know. The sheer audacity was impressive, and before she could mouth off about her privacy and how nosy he was being, Yuri cut her off. “Calm down Shady Lady, I’m only joking. I just figured it was funny that Hapi felt the need to let me know about it.” His tone was teasing, and it made her relax when she was able to tell he wasn’t really bugging her about it. She was uncertain enough about it, not sure how it was going to end up without the interference of the others.

The two of them then went on to talk about their days and what happened, as if it was second nature to them to talk to the other about simple things. Yuri seemed happy to know that things with her and Hapi were going to be fine, and meanwhile on his side of things, he had finally found a manufacturer to make the merchandise he was thinking about adding to the store. Things seemed on the upward spiral for them, and it felt nice to be able to share the upsides of their businesses with someone. 

Yuri had to run for something, and as soon as he hung up, she realized that she never got to thank him for the kind comments he made on their page for House Nuvelle. She sent him a quick text, thanking him to his support and that it didn’t go unnoticed to her. After she was finally to herself, she went to her bedroom to get changed into something more comfortable than the cocktail dress she had worn for the night out, and when she turned to look around her room for something, she saw the letter that Ferdinand wrote her, and she figured there was no better time to call. He was likely asleep, so she could leave a voicemail and instead go straight to bed. 

Constance dialed the number, and to her relief it continued to ring until she got the automated message that he was likely away from his phone, and out of curiosity about the time, she looked to her alarm clock to see it was easily three in the morning. Great, now she looked like a jerk for calling at three in the morning, and it only made her more relieved that he hadn’t woken up to answer. As soon as the beep hit, she took in a deep breath.

“Hello Ferdinand, I had finally opened your letter and I wanted to ask if you were still willing to talk? Be rest assured that if this is a waste of my time, I will not be happy, but I figured that I should at least give you a chance to explain. Hope this message finds you well, and feel free to text me back at this number,” she then listed her number slowly and clearly in case he needed to write it down, “hope to hear from you soon.” 

As soon as she hung up, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her chest and that things had finally cleared up in her mind now that it no longer weighed on her. Deciding that it was best to simply call it a night and see what the next day would have in store for her, she went to bed, not noticing the goodnight text from Yuri. 


End file.
